


cambios (changes)

by celestialr0se



Category: Amar a Muerte
Genre: Angst, Barista AU, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Juliantina, barista juliana, coffee shop AU, juliana has the biggest crush on valentina, writer valentina
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-10-21 04:02:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 24,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17635661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestialr0se/pseuds/celestialr0se
Summary: Valentina is struggling with the idea of change, that is until she meets the new barista, Juliana, and they become friends. Sergio makes a bet with Valentina that if she gets Juliana to sleep with her, she could have his brand new car. She wanted a new challenge in her life so she takes on the bet. However the bet was just the beginning and her intentions were to never fall for Juliana.





	1. the bet

A paper on change, where she has to convince her readers that change is influential and important. What the hell is Valentina going to say to even begin with? 

Her life has always been black and white. Day after day, it’s the same routine where she wakes up, go to school, see her friends, and goes out to the coffee shop near campus to do her homework. Of course Lucho takes her out and their hangouts end in the same way like it always does which is _unsatisfying_ _sex_. She doesn’t know when it started but she grew to be exhausted of Lucho, but this is her world and it’s what she’s used to, and without her dad in the picture, it makes the black and white feeling even worse. It’s almost like after each day passes, the only thing she’s looking forward to is meeting her dad in the afterlife.

The only thing that’s changed in her surroundings is that the coffee shop she spends her time in has a new barista.

She has noticed the new girl from the moment she had her order taken. This girl was under training at the time and it’s been a month since, now the girl is making every drink on the menu and basically taking charge of the coffee shop. _A fast learner._ Valentina finds herself impressed. All their interactions have been subtle but Valentina enjoys all their small talks, even if she still has no idea what the girl’s name is. 

“Hola,” Valentina walks up to the register with her arms wrapped around her notebook on her chest.

The barista looks up and her lips curve. Valentina doesn’t know why, but she stares at these little facial expressions the girl makes. “The usual?” She asks. 

“Yes, please,” Valentina chuckles.

As the barista was inputting Valentina’s ice coffee in the screen, she glances down at the notebook. “How’s your classes going?” She asks. 

“I have to do this story on change, and I have absolutely no idea how to even start it. You might see me in here until you close up tonight,” Valentina shrugs her shoulder with weak chuckle. The thought about the paper already put her in a bad mood. 

“That doesn’t seem that bad,” The barista smiles, while writing down the Valentina’s order on a clear plastic cup. _Did she mean that as in not bad that Valentina was staying until closing or did she mean the paper?_ “Change happens almost everyday.” _Paper, definitely the paper,_ Valentina thinks to herself.

Valentina almost bursts laughing. _Change? Almost everyday? That’d be amazing._ “You’re optimistic.” She stifles a laugh.

“And what is wrong with that?” The girl puts her hand to her chest, dramatically acting like she was offended.

“Nada, it’s cute.” Valentina pulls out her debit card and hands it to the barista. 

“No.” The barista refuses taking Valentina’s payment option.

Valentina raises an eyebrow. “No? Should I pay in cash-” 

“None,” She cuts Valentina’s words short. “It’s on the house, consider this your first change.” The barista chuckles before walking away to make the drink.

“You don’t have to do that,” Valentina insists as she watches the girl make the drink. 

The girl places a lid on the ice coffee and slides it to Valentina. “It’s already done,” Her voice sounds smooth as hell and Valentina smiles before taking the drink and walking over to the table she’s damn near owns. Even other locals who spend their time in that shop knows that _this_ was Valentina’s table. The table was all the way in the back of the shop where a wall covers the main counter that had the register and the pick up spot to grab made drinks. Right now it’s weird though, because for once she was staring at that wall, wanting to talk to the barista once more.

After settling down and laying down her notebook on the table with her pen in hand, she writes on top of the page: _Change._ This was going to be her brainstorming paper.

She bites her lip, trying to think of something. _Anything_. She looks at her ice coffee and smiles, she knew exactly what to write for the first thing to start off her brainstorm list.

  * _free coffee_



* * *

It’s Thursday afternoon and Valentina is already at her table typing until her fingers fall off for her, just writing complete bullshit over what the basic idea of change is and trying to wing the whole assignment. However, she’s constantly backspacing and deleting everything she types just to type something new and then _delete_ again. Her face falls in her palms, _I hate this._ She groans softly and when she lifts her head up she sees the barista walking towards her with a sandwich sitting on a small plate.

“Here,” She says, placing the plate down near Valentina.

“What’s this?” Valentina asks.

“Wheat bread, turkey ham, tomato, cheese-“

“No,” Valentina shakes her head and laughs softly. “I didn’t order this.”

“We accidentally made two sandwiches for an order and I noticed you been here for hours when I was cleaning tables and you don’t have a snack near you or anything,” The barista scratches her head. “So I thought that maybe you’d want it.”

And it’s true, Valentina _is_ starving. She looks up at the girl, and has her hand out for a handshake. “Valentina,” She says her own name. The girl reaches down to shake Valentina’s hand and smiles.

“Juliana."

_Juliana._ Another thing that’s new, the barista has a name. 

“Gracias, Juliana.” They shake hands and for once, Valentina feels happy. It feels like she’s made a new friend. 

“Well Valentina, I hope you enjoy the sandwich. I have to get back,” Juliana waves before walking back to the other side of the wall. 

Valentina looks at her notebook that was on the opposite side of her laptop. She reaches for the notebook and flips to the brainstorming page. There’s still only one thing written down but she takes her pen and writes down, “ _\- Juliana”._

* * *

 

It’s almost been a week now since Valentina and Juliana formally introduced themselves to each other and their small talk interactions have increased since. It’s almost becoming an unspoken routine where Valentina walks in and Juliana already starts to make her ice coffee for her and Valentina sliding a tip to Juliana on the counter while the girl isn’t looking. 

She knows it may not make the most complete sense, but lately being at the coffee shop made life feel more colorful. The black and white wasn’t allowed in here. 

From observing her for a month and barely actually meeting her a week ago, Juliana has became her favorite person and it’s to the point where Valentina finds herself scanning around the shop for her new friend when she isn’t found at the main counter.

Valentina orders her same drink and her order isn’t taken by Juliana. _She’s probably off today,_ she thinks in her head. Once she grabs her drink, she walks towards the back of the shop where she usually sits but this time she stops herself. This time she wants to have a view facing the front of the shop where she can see who walks in. _If Juliana walks in._ She sets her things down on a table that was near but not too close the counter, where the windows shine sunlight on the right side of her face. It’s a nice view actually, she sees the leaves on the tree from the outside move swiftly along the wind. 

The clear doors of the shop open with the soft bell sound following and she looks up to see her friends walking inside. “Vale!” Sergio says with a smile on his face. Behind him was Lucho and Nayeli, no one exciting really. Sometimes they all visit her in the cafe shop, trying to get her to come and day drink tequila shots. Half the time Valentina goes and the other half, she’s bothered by them entering her only place of real solitude, excluding her room when she’s alone.

“Hola bonita,” Lucho greets, pressing his lips against her cheek before sitting down next to her. 

“What’s up?” Valentina says as the three of them settle down near her.

“Club in an hour. You’re coming.” Nayeli says as she closes Valentina’s notebook. “Let’s get you in a dress!”

“Right now?” Valentina groans, thinking about how close her paper’s due date is and how she isn’t anywhere near finished.

“Yes, right now.” Lucho says as he rests his hand on her knee. 

She hears the bell on top of the cafe door ring and sees Juliana rushing to walk in. The boss of the shop walks up to her and from this distant, she’s sure she heard Juliana apologize for being late. Juliana glances at Valentina’s direction while tying an apron around her waist and looks back up at Valentina, meeting eyes. Juliana smiles, sending her a small wave. She didn’t realize how muffled everything else sounded around her until she hears Sergio in awe, saying things like: “Who is _that_?” 

Instinctively, she felt irritated. The thought of these two worlds colliding bothered her, the black and white world and the color. 

“Vale, you basically live here. Who is that?” Sergio turns his head back to Valentina, awaiting for an answer.

“She’s new, I don’t really know her that well,” Valentina shrugs her shoulders. “So the club?” She’s never wanted the subject of a conversation to change so bad.

“Damn she’s cute,” Sergio chuckles.

“And out of your league,” Valentina instinctively says, she didn’t realize that thought in her head came out her mouth first.

Sergio raises his eyebrows and laughs. “Oh, what? You think you’re better?” 

Valentina shrugs her shoulder, feeling smug. “You’ve seen my face, Sergio. Have you looked at yours?” She loves competitive talk and how Nayeli and Lucho say “Ouu,” in the background.

Sergio has his mouth open, not knowing what to say against that so he gives Valentina a fist bump to credit the burn comment.

“Let’s make a bet,” He declares. 

“And what will that be?” 

“Prove that you’re better. Get in the girl’s pants,” He says and Valentina laughs.

“You’re not serious,” She says as she laughs.

“I am!” Sergio says. 

“Really? A sex bet? In front of your boyfriend?” Nayeli’s voice is judgmental but Valentina has never really cared about what Nayeli has had to say.

“Let them have this bet, I know it’s not going to happen.” Lucho rolls his eyes.

“ _Really?_ ” When Valentina senses a challenge, she’s never hesitant to back down.

“Really.” Lucho says sternly.

“Come on, it’ll be fun. Plus you’re a girl in college, you’re bound to have an experimental phase,” Sergio laughs.

“Say I do it, what do I get out of it?” Valentina asks.

“What do you want?” Sergio asks.

“Val.” Lucho’s tone sounds like it was angry.

She takes a small moment to think of it. _What would she want?_ And then it came to her. 

“I want your car.” She says. Sergio had just got a brand new car in the beginning of the semester, a beautiful red classic mustang.

She thought Sergio was going to say no but he has his hand out to close the bet. Before shaking his hand, she looks at Lucho because at the end of the day that is still who she’s with. 

“It’s not going to be anything serious, Lucho. Just for the bet,” She said. 

Lucho rolls his eyes again and says, “Okay. Whatever.” 

She shakes Sergio’s hand, sealing the deal. 

  
This is not just a bet for her, it’s the momentum she feels that she will gain for her “ _Change_ ” paper, it’s almost like her research at the same time. Plus for some reason, she wanted this personally.. It’s like a push to get to know Juliana better and she liked the idea of it, even if she doesn’t go _that_ far. 

“So what are you waiting for?” Sergio nudges Valentina.


	2. the flame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the one in which valentina is falling for juliana and lucho fighting it

**** _"So what are you waiting for?”_

It’s been two days since Valentina shook hands with Sergio, ultimately sealing the bet that if she is able to sleep with Juliana then she’ll be having the keys to a new beautiful car. Over and over, she’s thought about ways to ask Juliana out. Of course, she’s going to need to start somewhere with Juliana. Her plan was four dates. Four dates is all she needs to hit home run. _Is the best way to ask Juliana out through flowers? A note? Food?_ Even though she stressed about it, there’s the feeling of guilt rising in her chest because this is _wrong_. This is toying with somebody and they don’t even know it. 

But she _wanted_ to do this and it felt like the bet was just a push to get to know this girl even further. She has never been so curious about somebody in her life. Lucho was easy from the moment they met. She read him perfectly from the first conversation they’ve ever had but with Juliana, they’ve had multiple interactions but Valentina couldn’t sum up the barista. She also considers that their interactions have been short and that they never really sat down and just _talked._

Valentina decides that this is going to be the first step because she needs to find out if Juliana even likes girls to begin with. That brings to why Sergio is sitting with her at the cafe at the new table Valentina finds herself spending time in. 

“What’s the plan again?” Sergio asks.

“Flirt with her, I need to see if she likes boys or-“

Sergio has his hand up to cut Valentina’s sentence short. “Say no more,” He confidently says, “But if she falls in love with me than you lose the bet automatically,” He shrugs and Valentina rolls her eyes. 

The sound of the bells on top of the door rings and they see Juliana walk inside. The barista is wearing a white t shirt with denim jeans and a dark red flannel tied around her waist, all with her hair in a low ponytail.

Sergio gets up and walks over to Juliana with his fingers combing through his hair. Valentina watches from a far, feeling a little regretful because what if Sergio becomes successful? She can’t hear what they are saying from where she is sitting so she tries to understand what is going on by watching their body language. She could tell Sergio is flirting with her and Juliana’s lips are tucked in her mouth, scratching her head. Sergio pulls out his phone and it seems like he’s trying to get her number and Juliana raises her eyebrows and looks at her watch. 

Juliana says something and it seems like she was trying to excuse herself and Sergio nods and lets her walk away. Juliana looks grossed out as she walks towards the counter where she makes coffee. She turns her head towards Valentina and they meet eyes. She’s caught staring at the barista. Valentina quickly looks away with her face heating up.

“She said she couldn’t really talk because she was running late for work,” Sergio says as he walks up to Valentina and inside she is glowing with joy. “Anyways, I’m going to go Val. Let me know what happens,” He chuckles before leaving.

Valentina waves him goodbye and Juliana walks up to her right after.

“Was that guy trying to hit on you?” Juliana says as she takes the seat across Valentina at the same table.

Valentina chuckles, because _Sergio? Hitting_ on her? Lucho would have him dead in a ditch somewhere if that were to ever happen. “No, he’s just a friend from school.” She says.

“Oh, you know him,” Juliana says with her lips curled in her mouth. 

“Why?” Valentina asks. 

“He just tried to get my number, but I wasn’t..” Juliana shakes her head, “I’m sorry, I don’t want to speak bad about your friend.” The girl laughs and Valentina smiles.

“He wasn’t your type, huh?” Valentina asks.

Valentina swears Juliana glanced down at her lips before shaking her head side to side. 

“Not at all,” Juliana says softly. 

“Well, what is then? Maybe I know someone,” Valentina takes advantage of this moment and leans closer to the girl, giving Juliana her full attention. 

Juliana bites her lip into a smile. _Oh yeah, she’s got to be gay._ Valentina thinks to herself.

“ _Juliana_!” An older woman calls out for the barista. This was the same person that Juliana apologized being late to the other day. Juliana turns her head to face her boss (Valentina guesses that’s the title the woman has. 

“I got to go,” Juliana sighs and Valentina feels bummed out right away. Juliana stands up and pushes the chair in and it only took her two steps before Valentina says her name and Juliana turns back around.

“Can I have your number?” Valentina asks and Juliana’s lips curve. The barista takes the pen that was resting on top of Valentina’s notebook and writes down her number on it. 

“I’ll see you around,” Juliana smoothly says before walking off.

* * *

Later that night, Lucho comes over and they watch a movie together, only after fighting over what movie to put on in the first place. Lucho gets his way and turns on this action film that Valentina hates rewatching, but she sit through it anyways. Not even halfway in the movie, Lucho falls asleep and she rolls her eyes. She takes her phone and goes on the messaging screen, typing in the number Juliana gave her in the _“To:”_ column.

_“Hey, it’s Valentina”_ She presses send, biting down her bottom lip because of the anticipation of waiting for a reply. Barely a minute passes by, Valentina puts her phone down. _Staring at my phone for a reply is weird._ She shakes her head. 

And then her phone vibrates. 

She picks her phone back up and sees the message across her screen reading:

_“Hola, hermosa.” Hello, beautiful._

Valentina smiles and thinks that maybe getting in this girls pants is going to be _easier_ than expected. 

_Hola, new mustang._ She thinks to herself.

She begins to type back a response, contemplated between asking her how her day was or what she was doing at the moment. She didn’t even have the chance to decide before she hears Lucho ask her who she was texting. 

“Juliana, the girl from the cafe.” She says nonchalantly.

“Are you seriously going to do this?” Lucho’s tone becomes angry.

“It’s not real, Lucho. It’s a game, _nothing_ more and _nothing_ less,” She says, meeting the same tone that Lucho gave her. 

“Whatever, have fun with your play girlfriend. Let me know when you’re done,” Lucho rolls his eyes and gets up. 

“Adios,” Valentina waves, not wanting to argue with the man any longer. 

When Lucho leaves, Valentina continues to text the girl and their replies were back to back where the most she waited to reply was barely two minutes. The conversation topic was about their day but it then went on to Juliana detailing her near death moment when she almost slipped and spilled coffee on this rich looking lawyer. Sure it wasn’t actually deep enough to _die_ but if Juliana were to spill coffee on the lawyer, the lawyer would have been _pissed._

Valentina finds herself laughing softly and smiling as she reads through Juliana’s texts.

_“Can I call you right now?”_ Juliana asks through a message. 

Valentina smiles and presses the phone button near Juliana’s name and calls her.

“Hi.” Juliana voice sounds happy and it definitely rubs off to Valentina.

“Hey drama queen,” She chuckles, “So tell me, did this ‘near death experience’ of yours teach you anything?” Valentina finds herself laughing between words.

“Hey it’s not funny, I really could have hurt myself!”

“Like how?”

“Sprain my ankle, fall on my face, or get _sued!_ You name it,” Juliana laughs and it’s the sweetest thing Valentina’s heard in a while. And now to think about it, being excited and joyful is something she’s hasn’t felt in a while either.

Juliana goes on and names possibilities of what could have happened if the lawyer had coffee spilled on him and it stretches far enough where Juliana was creating scenarios like it was some action type telenovela or something, all making Valentina laugh and help add on to the story.

About two hours passes by of them losing focus talking about one topic because another subject was left undiscussed or a new one arises. They jumped from topic to topic so much that it felt never ending conversation between the two and Valentina was okay with it. 

“It’s 1am,” Juliana observes, with surprise in her tone.

“I know,” Valentina rolls and lays down on her side. She doesn’t even remember getting up to her room during this phone call, she lost track of what she doing outside of the call.

“I have work in 4 hours,” Juliana groans.

Valentina raises her eyebrows, “You need to sleep! I’m sorry, I didn’t know-“

“ _Val_ , it’s okay,” Juliana softly laughs and Valentina finds comfort in the way she said her name.

“Well, I should go to sleep and hopefully you do too,” She insists.

“Are you even sleepy?” Juliana asks.

“No.” Valentina says truthfully. “Tell me a story,” She suggests. 

“Like a bedtime story?” Juliana chuckles, “Okay, the princessa was-

“No,” She shakes her head, “Tell me about your family.”

Juliana takes a moment and it makes Valentina feel like she was overstepping. “Never mind, you don’t have to-“

“My mom loves elote,” Juliana cuts Valentina off, and it makes her smile. Juliana goes on about how her and her mom would walk everywhere because they didn’t have a car, and their favorite place to stop by to grab dinner was this taco truck that had the absolute best food served by their neighborhood.

“Are you going to take me there?” Valentina asks. 

“Yeah if you want,” Juliana said. 

“So it’s a date?” Valentina bites down her lip. 

The girl laughs, “Yes. It’s a date.”

* * *

Valentina wakes up the next morning, without a memory of when she even fell asleep. It was… Juliana was telling her a story about her childhood and that was the last of it.

Today was just full of classes for her, but tonight she’s looking forward to hanging out with Juliana outside the cafe for once. While being in class all day, Valentina couldn’t keep off her phone, she was texting the barista the whole time.

_Juliana: You know, I thought you were really listening to me last night until I heard you snore._

Valentina’s face flushes because she absolutely hates snoring and it never helped when Lucho would make fun of it. 

_I’m sorry you had to hear that lol._ Send. 

_Juliana: it’s fine, I thought it was cute._

Valentina rolls her eyes and blushes, _this Juliana girl is literally perfect._

* * *

Picking an outfit to wear was never hard for Valentina because she would just choose anything and it was just naturally look good on her. She could wear sweats and a tee shirt and still look good but for the first time, maybe in a long time, she was struggling on what outfit to wear. She’s grown to the point where she didn’t care what she looked like in front of Lucho because they’ve been together for so long already.

Would it be this sleeveless shirt? _But it’s going to be cold outside.._

She takes a moment to sit down and overlook the damage she left in her room. There are clothes thrown everywhere and she lays down on her bed, thinking about cancelling on Juliana. As her mind goes all over the place, she sees a black long sleeve. She picks it up and immediately knew that the shirt would be perfect matched up with blue denim jeans along with some boots.

She puts the combination on and shrugs her shoulders, _this should be fine._

Her phone rings and its Juliana.

Valentina picks up the phone, “Hey, I was just finishing up getting ready. Do you want me to pick you up?” By ‘ _me_ ’, she was really talking about the driver, Alirio. 

“No, it’s fine,” Juliana says, “I live down the street, so I’ll just meet you here.” 

“Okay, I’ll see you.”

“Okay,” Juliana says before hanging up. 

Alright, game plan. _Four dates._ Her goal for this first date was to kiss Juliana tonight and just knowing that alone, she takes a swig or two of tequila before heading out. _Confidence booster,_ she thinks to herself. 

* * *

It wasn’t hard for Valentina to spot Juliana, the girl was wearing this lightly distressed jean jacket and a yellow-sunrise colored shirt with black jeans. It was a nice style that suited Juliana well, she wondered why this girl is single to begin with. When she walks up to Juliana, she taps her shoulder behind and smiles. They greet each other with a hug and then Juliana mentions that she had already ordered for the both of them.

Their conversation first took off by continuing their phone call last night and Juliana goes on about her favorite movies she watched growing up and how she loved romantic movies. 

“I’m not that big of a fan of romance movies honestly,” Valentina says before biting down her tacos. _Which were absolutely delicious, by the way._

“Really? Why is that?” Juliana raises her eyebrows.

“I don’t think love is like the movies at all,” Valentina shrugs, “What do you think love is?”

Juliana sets the food from her hand down and wipes her lips with a napkin. “I think love is like being pulled for air,” She starts and Valentina giggles. “Let me finish,” Juliana laughs. “It’s a fresh breath of air when you see the person you love when you’re at your lowest,” Juliana said in a casual tone.

“I don’t know,” Valentina runs her hand through her hair, “It sounds nice.” She reflects on Lucho, trying to remember a time when she felt that type of relief when being with him after a long day. _Nothing_ comes to mind. 

She starts to think that maybe all she had was love _for_ Lucho, but she wasn’t _in_ love with him.

_“Val,”_ Juliana’s voice snaps her out of her thoughts. She averts her eyes from staring down at her hands to Juliana’s eyes. “You okay?” 

Valentina nods and stands up, “Let’s walk around the park.”

Juliana follows, taking the last bite of her food before walking towards the trash bin to throw the plate away. Thankfully the lights were on, surrounding them with light everywhere they walked. 

“So tell me about your family,” Juliana suggests. 

Valentina wonders if she should pick and choose what to say about herself to Juliana because she doesn’t want to accidentally give too much of herself away to this girl who is a bet in her mind. 

“I have brother and a sister, Guille and Eva. I’m the youngest,” She shrugs. _Maybe that was too little._ “Do you have any siblings?” She tries to give the spotlight back to Juliana.

“No, I don’t. Just me and my mom and the stepdad, Panchito.”

“What’s he like?” Valentina asks.

“It took me a while to like him because he chose my mom over his own family, but he’s a good person. He treats my mom better than my dad, that’s for sure.” Juliana smiles at that and Valentina’s heart warms for her. She could tell how much her mom means to her. 

  
“But I do wish I had a sister,” Juliana says and instinctively, Valentina laughs.

“You don’t want a sister, trust me.” She scoffs.

“And why is that?” Juliana raises an eyebrow. 

“My sister is a spawn from _Satan_ ,” Valentina jokes.

“Oh come on, Eva is _that_ bad?” Juliana asks, giving a light chuckle.

“Yes.” Valentina didn’t hesitate to reply at all and then she thinks about it and rolls her eyes. “Well, maybe _not_ completely but she definitely pushes my buttons.” Valentina says as she sits down on the bench underneath the lamp post and Juliana follows. “There was this one time when I was in high school, I got high for the first time ever and she saw me. She completely knew what was going on,”

“No way,” Juliana comments. 

“I asked her to keep it a secret and she looked me dead in the eyes and said that she would,” Valentina continued, “Next thing I knew, my dad is shouting at me from downstairs all the way up to my room.” She reflectively said, giving a weak chuckle. She misses her dad. 

Juliana inched closer to Valentina and it made her feel comfortable. 

“Is your dad hard on you like Eva?”

Valentina shakes her head. “He loved me a lot that he apologized for screaming at me right after,” She said with a gloomy sigh, hanging her head head.

She feels the tip of Juliana’s fingertips softly lift her chin up. “What’s wrong?” Juliana asks, meeting her eyes.

Valentina takes a deep breath. Something about looking into this girl’s eyes slightly broke down her walls. “My dad passed away almost a two years ago and it still..” Valentina tries to control the tightness in her chest. She knows the more she thinks about him or even talk about him, she’ll break and she wasn’t going to let herself break at all. _To anyone._

She feels Juliana’s hand on her shoulder, rubbing circles, trying to comfort her. 

“I lost my dad too,” Juliana said with quiet empathy. 

Valentina lifts her head up, staring back in Juliana’s eyes, just waiting to know more. She isn’t used to that type of response, she’s only known the basic reply of: _“I’m sorry for your loss. He’s in a better place. It’s going to be okay.”_

“The difference between your dad and mine is the love,” Juliana gives a bitter laugh. “He was never there for me or my mom, so when he got into some bad stuff, he turned to drugs instead of his family,” Juliana continues and Valentina feels like she was going to cry. Thinking about her own father that loved her so much was already overwhelming, but hearing about Juliana’s made her feel bad.

“He overdosed and that was the end of it,” Juliana said and Valentina has tears dropping down from her eyes. “No, don’t do that,” Juliana’s voice was soft as she wiped the tears falling down Valentina’s cheeks with her thumb.

“I’m sorry,” Valentina’s voice was low and her eyes was away from Juliana’s. She’s sure that Juliana is learning that she hates eye contact in moments like this. “How long has it been?” She asks with a hush voice, unsure if that was even okay to ask as well.

“It’s almost been two years too. March 5th.” Juliana says, with her hand circling Valentina’s back. 

Valentina’s eye widen out to the distance. 

Juliana drew herself closer to Valentina, trying to really comfort her. “ _Mirame,” Look at me._ Her voice sounds so compelling. 

Their meet eyes again. 

“I lost my dad on March 5th as well,” Her voice is raspy, still trying her hardest to not break. She looks at Juliana differently because of the coincidence of their fathers passing on the same date almost two years ago. There’s this feeling in her chest that’s glowing, it feels like she’s drawn to Juliana and it’s crazy because they had just barely became friends. 

Juliana leans closer and tucks in a strand of hair behind Valentina’s ear. “It gets better, I promise.” Valentina feels like she heard this before but it’s never as sincere or anywhere near reassuring compared to Juliana saying it.

“You promise?” 

Juliana holds her pinky finger up with a smile and Valentina smiles back, putting her pinky finger up as well. They wrap it together and Juliana says, “I promise.”

Valentina’s eyes glances down to Juliana’s lips. _This is the perfect time.._ She’s sure she signaled herself well to Juliana because she feels Juliana’s hand softly resting on the back of her neck with her thumb caressing the back of her ear. 

The moment has never felt so _slow_. 

She leans in close with her eyes closing shut. At this moment, she wasn’t even thinking about the bet. It was corny to think but she felt like this was supposed to happen in her life. The feeling of vulnerability and comfort, all leading to what will be a kiss..

And then Juliana’s phone rings before they even had the chance to press their lips against each other.

“I’m sorry, it’s my mom,” Juliana says, picking up her phone.

“It’s okay, take it.” Valentina says as she takes a deep breath in, reflecting on these new feelings arising. Juliana’s phone conversation with her mom was just distant chatter to Valentina. _This is just a bet, Val. Remember._ She is reassuring herself why she’s here in the first place. She isn’t here to be vulnerable.   


“Okay, ma. Bye.” Juliana says before hanging up the phone, “I’m sorry, I have to go, my mom is sick and wants me to make her menudo,” She laughs and scratches her head. 

“That’s fine, let me drop you off,” Valentina suggests. 

“No Val, you don’t have to-“

“It’s okay, Juliana,” Valentina cuts her off, “Like you said, you live down the street right?” 

Juliana tucks her lips in her mouth and Valentina is learning that this is something Juliana doe when avoiding to say something. “Well.. A _couple_ streets down from here yeah,” The girl admits.

“A _couple_? Let me take you, really it’s no problem,” Valentina is for sure not letting Juliana walk home now. It’s night, something could happen.

“Okay,” Juliana nods and follows Valentina walking towards the parking lot. They see Alirio taking a nap and Valentina taps on the windshield. 

“Who’s this?” Juliana asks. 

“Alirio, he’s the driver,” Valentina replies, not noticing Juliana being amazed. 

“You have your own driver?” She says with surprise. 

Valentina laughs and opens the door for Juliana. 

“Where are we going, Miss. Valentina?” Alirio asks and Valentina look at Juliana. Juliana says her address and Alirio nods. They look at each other and Juliana smiles at her. Valentina smiles back, resting her head on Juliana’s shoulder. 

“Thank you for tonight,” She says as she adjusts herself comfortably on her shoulder. Juliana leans her head down on top of Valentina’s in response.

The drive down Juliana’s house wasn’t long but it definitely wasn’t down the street from the taco truck. When they pull up to the house, they wrap each other in a hug before saying good night. Juliana closes the car door behind her as she walks up to her front door. 

“Home?” Alirio asks. 

“One second,” She says as she watches Juliana get into her house, she wanted to make sure she was in her house before completely driving away. Juliana walks inside her house giving a wave before closing the door. 

“Yeah home, please.” She says feeling happy about how tonight went. Despite tearing her walls down a little bit, she was glad she did so. She’s never talked about her dad and felt okay afterwards until this very moment.

* * *

The next day, her first draft of her _Changes_ paper was due but she didn’t turn it in. Her work was unfinished and she knew her professor would be upset even receiving the half ass paper. She needed to work extra hard on the assignment to compensate not having a rough draft turned in. It’s raining incredibly hard outside but she found it calming.

She has a two hour gap between her class and instead of spending it with Lucho, Sergio, and Nayeli, she goes to coffee shop. Of course Lucho tries to get her out of doing the paper to hang out with them, telling her: “Just do it later, it’s not like you’re going to get anything done in two hours anyway!”

She rolls her eyes thinking back at his words of “encouragement.” 

Once she walks in the coffee shop, she sees Juliana at the counter with a smile across her face. “You’re here early,” Juliana observes, picking up a clear cup already getting started on her drink.

“Maybe I wanted to see you?” Valentina flirts and Juliana laughs.

“I have an idea for something new for you to drink, I think you would like it.” Juliana says as she puts caramel syrup in the cup and pours the brown coffee in the cup, adding ice at the end. She hands the drink to Valentina and Valentina takes a sip. 

“It’s your same drink just with an extra shot of espresso and caramel,” Juliana says as she tightens her apron around her waist.

It was a perfect mix of strong caffeine and sweetness to Valentina, she thinks this is her new drink now. “I love it,” She says, taking another long sip. “Hopefully I could finish my paper with this,” She groans.

“You _still_ haven’t finished?” Juliana says surprised. “Val, you don’t want to fail.”

“I know, but it’s writers block,” She says. Juliana shakes her head and walks out the counter spot and takes Valentina’s hand, walking towards the table near the window. 

“Only way to get out of writers block is _writing,”_ Juliana says, sitting down on the chair and Valentina follows. “Now take your laptop out and start typing away,” Juliana is actually doing a great job motivating her.

_“Juls!”_

They turns around and it’s the boss of the place. “Stop flirting, we have customers!” The lady says and Juliana laughs.

“That’s Miss. Perlita, I love her but she could get on my nerves,” Juliana sighs before standing up. 

“She seems nice,” Valentina giggles.

Juliana has her hand on Valentina shoulder. “You got this!” She says with energy before pressing her lips against Valentina’s cheek and walking away to the counter. Valentina grins with her eyebrow raised and Juliana looks over her shoulder, winking at her.

The coffee definitely helps, but Juliana encouraging her was even better. She created an outline to help her get through the paper and she was typing away confidently as if she broke through the writer’s block. She got carried away writing the outline and being distracted talking to Juliana between taking breaks from her keyboard. 

Two hours passes by like it was nothing and she starts to pack up her things. Before walking out the door, she looks over her shoulder to find Juliana, only to see the girl walking up to her from the side. “Leaving?” Juliana asks, with a stack of dirty plates in her hands.  


“Yeah,” Valentina nods, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Let’s hangout again soon?” She suggests. 

“What do you want to do?” Juliana questioned. 

“Let’s..” She takes a second to think about it, trying to come up with something casual but intimate, because after all.. there was still one goal she’s attempting to get to. “Let’s cook,” She suggests, receiving a smirk from Juliana.

“What?” Valentina laughs softly.   
“You’re not ready for _Chef Juliana_ , that’s what.” Juliana’s lips curve into a cocky smile.

Valentina rolls her eyes with a grin, “I’ll pick you up later?” 

“You don’t have to, I can take the bus-“

Valentina shakes her head no and says, “I’ll be there at 7."

“I have a feeling that you don’t ever take ‘no’ as an answer,” Juliana acknowledged.

“You got that right,” Valentina says before giving the girl a hug before walking away.

* * *

It’s 7 in the evening and Valentina is right outside Juliana’s house, waiting for the girl to come outside. The black screen door opens and Juliana walks outside, dressed casually in black jeans and gray converses with a green loose sweater and a jean jacket.

“Hola!” Valentina opens the door for her and Juliana jumps in the car. 

“Hola,” Juliana says excitedly but with a calmer tone. 

Once they get to the house, Valentina leads Juliana straight to the kitchen. “Look inside the cabinets, we’ll figure out what to cook,” She offers to Juliana as she goes cupboard near the bottles of alcohol. She takes out her favorite bottle of mezcal and pours a shot for her and Juliana. 

She walks to the girl and offers her a shot but Juliana shakes her head. “No, I don’t drink,” Juliana kindly turns the shot down.

“Are you sure?” Valentina asks.

“Positive,” Juliana chuckles as she pulls out the flour bag from the cabinet. “Don’t get too drunk, we’re going to make a pizza.” Juliana says and Valentina takes a shot to that.

She hasn’t came across anybody that turned down drinking alcohol with her. She ends up taking both shots and she leans against the kitchen counter, watching Juliana pulling out sugar and other ingredients to make this pizza. 

_Mustang._ She thinks to herself before pouring another shot and at this point she feels the need to drink alcohol to indulge in this bet. She finds her best confident self through the influence of the devil’s water and she loves it. Need to forget about her dad’s death? Need to find peace after a fight with Lucho or Eva? Tequila is Valentina’s best friend through it all.

“We need some music,” Valentina says as she turns on the speaker and connects her phone to the bluetooth. The first song that automatically played was _We Belong Together_ by Los Labos. 

“I love this song!” Valentina exclaims and Juliana can’t take her eyes off her.

“Don’t you think your sister will be mad about how loud the music is?” Juliana asks, trying to save Valentina from a fight with her sister. 

“It’s just us here, Eva is working late and Guille is with his girl friend.” Valentina says taking Juliana’s hand and twirling her. 

Juliana takes Valentina’s hand and leads her to where she was standing with the ingredients. “Come on, let’s make dough.” The girl says as she takes her jean jacket off and hangs it on the chair. 

“Okay,” Valentina agrees and grabs an apron that was hanging on the wall and tosses one to Juliana. She takes about two more shots along the process and she made sure to down them with Juliana’s back turned. 

Since Juliana is so used to wearing aprons so tying one behind her back was the most simplest thing in the world but however for Valentina, it was a different story. Juliana laughs softly before helping Valentina out. She brushes her hand passed Valentina’s as she tied the apron for her. 

They stand side to side together, both singing the song softly as they begin to mix ingredients into a bowl to create dough. Once they had their dough, they begin to roll them. 

“I’m sorry for leaving early last night,” Juliana says as she rolls the dough easily in her hands.

“It’s okay, how is your mom?” Valentina asks with a struggle in her voice as she was trying to beat the dough with her fist, attempting to make a ball out of it.

Juliana glances at that and chuckles. “She’s better- what on earth are you doing?”

“Isn’t this how you..” Valentina stops herself, realizing she has no idea what she’s doing. “I need a shot,” She laughs as she walks towards the bottle but Juliana pulls her back to her by grabbing onto her hand. 

“No, let me show you how it’s done.” Juliana insisted and Valentina followed. Juliana places her hands on top of Valentina’s all while being behind her. Juliana is going on about how to properly roll on the dough but Valentina’s brain cells are just focusing on this touch. Maybe it’s the buzz she’s starting to feel from the back to back shots she was taking that influenced her thumb caressing Juliana’s hand.

Juliana pauses and looks down at their hands and moves to the side of Valentina instead of being behind her. Valentina observes her and notices a small mark of dough on Juliana’s face. 

“Stay still, you have some dough on you,” She giggles, wiping the dough away with her fingers. She forgot that she was just beating up dough herself when she realizes she made the dough on the side of Juliana’s face worse. “Shit,” She laughs. “Let me get you a towel,” Valentina turns to the sink and wets a paper towel, and dabs it on Juliana’s face. 

Juliana just watches her with a soft smile on her face, it makes Valentina blush. “ _Que?_ ” Valentina asks with a low voice. 

“Nada..” Juliana inches closer, moving Valentina’s hair to the back of her shoulders with the back of her hands. Valentina feels like Juliana is going to make the first move on her and she doesn’t mind it at all. Juliana brushes her nose against Valentina’s and they’re so close, Valentina feels the warmth of Juliana’s lips already without even touching them. 

She can’t remember tenderness from a moment like this. The guy from Canada she dated? Straight to make out session and it was no different than Lucho as well. 

“ _Mi niña!” My girl!_ Valentina jolts back, hearing Chivis voice from the other room. 

“Hola, Chivis,” She turns around and sees Chivis walking in the kitchen. “I didn’t know you were here,” Valentina raises her eyebrows.

“I decided to come early from church. What is happening here?” Chivis points at the the messy dough on the table. 

“We were making a pizza,” Juliana gives a weak chuckle. Valentina can see the flustered look on her face.

“Chivis, this is Juliana,” Valentina introduces. “Juliana, Chivis,” She says pointing at one another. Juliana walks over to Chivis to shake her hand and reassures that they will clean up everything. 

“Good, because I am tired.” Chivis says before walking upstairs. 

The two girls look at each other and just laugh. Valentina pours herself another shot and downs it, gesturing Juliana the shot glass as an offer. 

“Still no,” Juliana shakes her head and walks over to the dough mess. “We aren’t going to finish making this pizza, are we?” Juliana chuckles.  


Valentina shakes her head back at Juliana, who is scooping all the dough in a bowl. She hears her phone go off and it’s Lucho calling.

She glances back to Juliana and back to her phone. She sends Lucho to voicemail and helps Juliana clean the table. 

“One time, I tried to make noodles but I forgot to add the water so there was smoke everywhere in this house,” Valentina says casually as she puts the utensils in the sink. Juliana stops to laugh hard. 

“You almost burn down your house and you say it in the most neutral tone,” Juliana says between laughter.

“No one was home and I didn’t want to go out!” Valentina has her hands up in defense, closing the mezcal bottle. “Last chance, Juls.” She says waving the bottle at Juliana. 

“Maybe, next time?” Juliana says. 

Valentina nods and puts the bottle away. Her phone is ringing again and it’s Lucho again. She picks it up and takes a couple steps away from Juliana before answering.

“Hello?” Valentina feels irritated right away. 

“Where are you?” Lucho asks without even saying hello back or any type of context.    
“I’m home, is there something you need?” Valentina asks. 

“ _Sheesshh_ ,” She could just feel Lucho’s cockiness through the phone. “I want to see you, is that wrong?”

She glances over her shoulder at Juliana, the girl is washing the utensils. 

“Now’s not a good time, I’m doing homework.” Valentina says.

“You’ve been busy doing homework for the past two weeks,” He sounds bothered and Valentina rolls her eyes. “Well, I’m on my way whether you like it or not.”

“Lucho, no-“

“See you in 20 minutes, _amor._ ” Lucho says before hanging up the phone. Valentina’s heart beat races at the thought of being in the same room as Juliana and Lucho.

“You okay?” She hears the concerned sound of Juliana’s voice from behind. She turns around and stumbles on her words for a moment, trying to say “Yeah,” and “I’m okay,” at the same time.

She shakes her head, “Actually, no I’m not okay,” _Think of something,_ she yells at herself in her mind.

“What’s wrong?” Juliana asks with her hand on Valentina’s arm. She wonders if Juliana notices what she does when she’s gives comfort to people. 

“My brother..” She starts, “Guille got in a fight with Eva and he needs me to calm Eva down before she ruins his relationship with the receptionist.” Valentina isn’t completely lying, this was a issue she had to solve with her siblings a couple days ago.

“Aw wow, is there anything I could do to help?” Juliana offers.

“I wish, but it’s okay. I’m the only one that can get through their heads, it feels like I’m the oldest sometimes,” Valentina chuckles. 

“Okay, well I’ll just go home then,” Juliana says with an understanding tone. 

“I’ll get Alirio.” Valentina says.

“You don’t have to-“

“Juls, we’ve gone through this already.” Valentina says, referring to their conversation at the coffee shop where she wasn’t going to let Juliana find ways to commute. 

Juliana jokingly rolls her eyes and follows Valentina out the door. 

* * *

 

When they get to Juliana’s house, Juliana asks Valentina if she could walk her to the door before she leaves. Valentina nods and steps down from the car. 

“Listen, I just want to say that I’m enjoying this time we’re spending with each other.” Juliana says, with her hands buried in her pockets.

Valentina smiles, “I like it too.” She meant every part of that, it felt good having her around. Lately, Juliana has made days feel lighter.

“I’m sorry that our hangouts always seem to be cut short,” Valentina said. The two were at Juliana’s front door now and Juliana takes the keys out of her jean pocket. 

“I’m willing to stick around for longer ones,” Juliana says into a smile. A _beautiful_ smile by the way.

“What if you grow tired of me?” Valentina steps in closer to Juliana. 

“Oh, I don’t think that will happen,” Juliana flirts and leans closer to Valentina. _Just do it already, damn,_ she thinks to herself as she waits for Juliana’s lips to press against hers and the difference between this time and the other failed attempts is that it _actually_ happens.

Juliana’s lips are moist and warm, a completely soft feeling pressed against her lips. She flows with the movement of their lips, feeling Juliana’s soft hands holding on to the side of her neck for support as the girl deepened the kiss. 

Valentina melts in the kiss, ready to sneakily slide her tongue in Juliana’s mouth but Juliana pulls away before she had the chance to. Instinctively, her mouth chases after Juliana’s lips and this is something she’s never done. She usually has the other person craving more of her lips but this time, she was the one that wanted _more._

“Go save your brother’s relationship,” Juliana giggles. 

Valentina looks down at Juliana’s lips and smiles. The effect from the mezcal had already worn off but somehow it felt like it came back. 

“I’ll see you later,” Valentina says as she holds onto Juliana’s hand, slipping away from it as she walks off. 

She makes sure her back is turned from Juliana’s before tracing her bottom lip with her fingertips, touching the lingering feeling Juliana left on her. The small walk back to the car had her realizing she that the buzz she was feeling wasn’t from the mezcal.

It was from _that kiss._

* * *

When she gets back to her house, the first thing she wants to do is call Juliana. She just wanted to hear her voice, nothing else was on her mind. As she opens the door to her house, she pulls out her phone, looking down and scrolling through her contacts trying to find Juliana’s name.

“I thought you said you were home,” The sound of Lucho’s voice startles her. She has her hand on her chest to calm down her heart from racing abruptly. 

She was replaying the kiss in her mind so much that she had forgotten that Lucho was at her house. 

“I had to run an errand,” She says, closing the door behind her. 

He walks up to her with arms crossed and says, “Chivis told me that you had your friend over.”

“Juliana,” She says. Was there a point to lying? He knew about the bet anyways.

“Are you _seriously_ going through with that?” He sounds incredibly bothered. 

She raises her voice at him because the way he sounded seemed like he was comparing Juliana to some disease. “She’s becoming a friend, Lucho. Nothing else,” There’s the lie.

“So you’re done with this stupid experiment?” He asks with a tone filled with judgement. 

Valentina only shrugs at him. She doesn’t what she is really aiming for and she knows that. 

“She’s just a poor girl working in the city, you could at least do this experiment with someone _at least_ on the same level as your worth,” He scoffs.

She glares at him, wanting to retaliate stronger but instead she stops herself and takes a deep breath in. “Why do you always argue with me? Aren’t you tired of fighting?” Her voice was calm but mostly fed up. 

This surprises Lucho, he doesn’t think she’s ever backed down from trying to fight him. 

“I’m just trying to talk sense into you,” Lucho says, trying to mansplain himself.

“I want you to leave,” She points at the door. 

Lucho drops his shoulders. “Okay, we don’t have to fight. I’m sorry-“ He tries to step closer to her with a calm voice. 

“Lucho, _leave_ ,” She opens the door for him to take the hint and walk out. 

He has his hand out on her hips, “Babe come on.” Valentina pushes his hands off her. “Seriously? This is the part where we make up,” He says before attempting to kiss her but she steps back. 

“Not anymore,” Valentina said. Lucho looks at the distance between them and scoffs. 

“Let me know when you’re done being mad,” He says with a tone filed with anger as he walks out the door.

There is a relief that relaxed her shoulders from being so tense and she didn’t realize that until she closes the door behind Lucho. All the feelings that Juliana left her were faded away as it was overcame by the frustration in her that came along seeing Lucho. 

Her back is against the door and she closes her eyes, reflecting on what she is doing. She should call off the whole thing before it blows out of proportion. This isn’t her life and Juliana hasn’t been in her life long enough for her to be considered a major person to her.

_But,_ she thinks about Sergio and Nayeli and how she’s known them for almost all her life but for some reason they can’t compare to Juliana. 

  
She has never met someone so simple and original like Juliana. Juliana probably doesn’t give two shits about materialistic things like her friends do and she loves that. She buries her face in her hands as the conflicting thoughts hits her. 

_Juliana is not important, I don’t need to do this-_

The sound of her phone ringing snaps her out of fighting with herself. She looks down at the caller id and it’s Juliana. She slides to answer the call and once she hears the sound of Juliana’s voice, all the heaviness in her chest washed away. 

“Hi,” Valentina replies, blinking and realizing how uneasy she made herself feel.

“Sorry to bother you, I know you’re busy but I left my jacket in the kitchen,” Juliana said. Valentina pushes herself off from leaning against the door and walks over to the kitchen and sees the jacket. 

“I see it, I’ll keep it safe until I see you,” Valentina says.

“You better, otherwise we’re going to have some problems,” Juliana teases and Valentina smiles. Suddenly everything she was feeling before Juliana called her vanished and she feels pathetic about it, she can’t help it.

She laughs softly and offers to drop it off to Juliana but Juliana tells her that she doesn’t have to go out her way for the jacket. 

“How are things with your family?” Juliana asks and Valentina was at first confused by the question but then it came back to her that she made up that excuse. 

Without giving too much detail, she kept it simple and told Juliana that it was better. Of course, to avoid the conversation from getting deeper in that direction, she changes the subject. As they were talking on the phone, she makes her way to her bedroom so she could be comfortable. 

Valentina gets carried away by the sound of Juliana’s voice that she wasn’t really processing everything that she was saying but she was listening enough to understand what the conversation was about.  


As the two get carried away, laughing and telling stories and having debates about the smallest comparable things like whether ice cream is better than popsicles, Valentina grows this spark in her that she can’t bury. 

She’s truly gaining a crush on Juliana.

* * *

The week of her father’s death anniversary was rolling by quick and she couldn’t stop time to slow it down. She surprises herself and almost everyone in her family by her growth considering she was the most hurt by it.

Last year, everyone who had a genuine connection with her father gathered around at his tombstone and they all had a dinner. The support of having her friends and family there surrounding her didn’t stop the black and white feeling that became a bigger part of her throughout the year. 

This year was different though, everyone felt lighter and way more accepting of her dad’s passing. She guesses that what happens when you’re gone, maybe people really do get better over time.

Her house was filled with family members that’s visiting from other countries, some which she hasn’t seen since she was a little girl. 

She needed her mind off this, all the phone calls from her family members trying to see her suffocated her. She knows all of it is coming from pure love and support but she needed the space. 

She finds herself asking Alirio to take her to the coffee shop and at the moment she was craving the drink Juliana made her. Once she walks in the cafe, she doesn’t see Juliana at the counter.

“Hola,” She greets Miss Perlita. 

“Buenas tardes,” _Good afternoon._ Miss Perlita responds, “What can I get for you?”

Valentina’s eyes wander passed Miss Perlita and looking at the faces of the baristas behind her, trying to spot Juliana. She realizes that she is standing there looking a fool maybe, and shakes her head. “I’m sorry, is Juliana here?” She asks. 

“On lunch,” Miss Perlita points at the table in the direction next to the windows. She turns her head and sees Juliana sitting at the table she usually sits and does homework at. Well not usually, but as of lately.. 

She smiles at Juliana and walks off to her without ordering her drink. She walks from the behind and scares Juliana. “ _Senora_!” She says and she shakes the chair Juliana is sitting at. 

Juliana jumps in her chair and rips the earphones down from her ears by the cord and turns around. 

“Val!” Juliana laughs and Valentina leans down, hugging the girl tightly in a way that she’s trying to balance out the scare she gave Juliana with affection. 

Valentina pulls out the chair and sits next to Juliana. “Hi,” She says softly. 

“Hey,” Juliana chuckles as she wraps her earphones away. “I was just thinking about you,” She says with a more serious tone.

“And?” Valentina eyebrows raise in question. 

“How are things? It’s about to be 2 years-”

“Tomorrow,” Valentina cuts Juliana off, scratching her head. “If you want me to be completely honest, my family is clinging on to me and I can’t breathe,” Valentina sighs and gives a weak smile. “But right now, I feel..” She looks up to Juliana, who is looking back at her and she feels Juliana’s pure softness and empathy. 

“Like you could catch a breath?” Juliana finishes Valentina’s sentence.  
  
This all reminds her to the first night they really hung out. _“It’s a fresh breath of air when you see the person you love when you’re at your lowest,”_ Juliana’s words distantly echoed in her head. 

“Yeah, exactly,” She gives a small chuckle. “And how about you?” She asks Juliana, remembering that her father was lost on the same day as well. 

“I’m alright, but my mom is pretending to be,” Juliana starts, “I’m sure we’re all going to be alright to get by it though.” Valentina is beginning be rubbed off Juliana’s optimism, in a way it’s making her feel more positive. 

“Call me if you need me, okay?” Juliana reaches out for Valentina’s hand. 

“Can I see you instead?” Valentina suggests, “After everyone leaves tomorrow, can you just be with me?” She couldn’t think of anyone else being better support than Juliana. 

“Of course,” Juliana nods as she caresses Valentina’s hand softly with her thumb. 

For it being the worst time of the year for Valentina, she’s finally seeing color in life just by looking at Juliana. 

* * *

The dinner anniversary comes and this is the moment where she needed her best friend the most. _Tequila._ She hasn’t coped without it and Lucho is always there to help her enable this behavior. The two hasn’t spoke about their last interaction and they both weren’t planning on it, especially today. Communication never really ran perfectly between the two, but they manage to ignore it. Maybe it’s the comfort of being together for so long that brought them to be in this place but she couldn’t remember time where it was good to begin with.

“Want another one?” He asks her, already pouring another shot as if she said yes. 

She’s taken so many shots that she had lost count and no one is judging her because they were doing it as well. She begins to wonder what Juliana and her family does to cope and if alcohol is a part of that or not. 

“Val?” Lucho gets her out of her thoughts and hands her the small glass. 

She takes the shot and pours her head back, feeling numb to the bitter taste. 

Slowly, the guests were leaving the house and Lucho takes Valentina to her room. She was so drunk, she couldn’t walk right so Lucho was by her side supporting her getting up to the stairs. 

“Gracias, Lucho!” She hears Eva says and Lucho nods at her. Eva has seen the two fight all the time but she still likes him for Valentina, but that’s Eva believing that’s what couples do when they’re together.

Once they get in the room, Lucho closes the door behind him and she hears her phone ringing. She reaches for her phone to see who was calling but Lucho takes the phone and sets it on the desk. He begins to press his chapped lips against hers and it’s a rough feeling she is used to but didn’t want at the moment. 

“Lucho, no,” She says, pushing him away from her. 

“ _Come on,”_ He insists, with his hand sliding underneath Valentina’s shirt. “It’s been weeks,” He tries to reason himself as he makes his way to her neck with his mouth.  


“Stop!” She pushes him off of her and it surprises the both of them. 

He steps back and she could see the anger rising in him. “It’s my dad’s death anniversary, you think all I want to do right now is have sex?” She says, with her hands massaging her templates. 

“Valentina, you have been different lately! You never want to do anything anymore!” He counters. 

“I don’t want to argue-“

“Since when, Val? You’re _changing_!” He raises his voice. 

The sound of Valentina’s phone ringing both get their attention and Lucho looks down to see the caller id. 

“It’s her, isn’t it? _Juliana?_ ” He glares at Valentina, making Juliana’s name sounds like poison all over again. 

Valentina just looks back at him, not knowing what to say. He charges at the phone, “I’m telling her what you’re doing-“ 

“Lucho, stop!” She tries to stop him by pulling his arms, but he was too strong. Once he picks up the phone, it was too late. The call went to voicemail for Juliana and Valentina felt so relieved but she couldn’t show that in front of Lucho. 

“Are you serious right now? You’re getting jealous over _a girl?_!” Valentina raises her voice at him, trying to resolve this situation somehow. “I don’t have any feelings for her, are you crazy?” At this moment, she wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince him or herself. 

“Then tell me what is going on with you?!” Lucho yells back.

“I lost my dad, Lucho-“

“Well, you need to get over it!” He cuts her off and she was taken aback from his words. He realizes what he said and his eyes fell to the ground. “I didn’t mean that-“

“Leave,” She said, opening the door for him.

“Vale, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to go that far,” He says, trying to get close to her but she steps away.

“That was the most selfish thing I’ve ever heard come out your mouth,” Tears began to fall from her eyes. “I need some space from you.” She says and that part hit Lucho, she knows it. 

“Val..” He says, feeling regretful. 

“I don’t want to be around you right now,” Valentina has never been more serious talking to Lucho in her relationship being with him and he knows it.

So, he walks away. She closes the door behind her, trying to process everything that just happened at once. Even with what just happened with Lucho, she still picks up her phone. Her mind was still intoxicated that she couldn’t call back Juliana without accidentally calling other contacts with the first letter starting with a “J” in her phone. 

“Val?” She hears Juliana’s voice, “I’ve been calling. Are you okay?”

Valentina closes her eyes listening to the sound of Juliana and wipes the tears away from her face. 

“Hey, you there?” Juliana asks.

“Sorry, I just wanted to hear your voice,” Valentina slurs. “Can I see you right now?”

“I’m at the shop closing up right now,” Juliana said.

“I’m on my way,” Valentina says, impulsively hanging up the phone to call Alirio so he could give her a ride to the coffee shop. 

Something burned inside of her, the sadness that was washed away with anger now turned to desire. Lucho was the outlet for these emotions but she didn’t want to be anywhere near him tonight.   
  
She rushes down to the kitchen and takes three shots before heading out, trying to fuel the fire in her that Lucho almost completely burnt out. 

All she could think about is Juliana and how much she wanted get this dumb bet over with so she could go back to her regular life. 

Sex was her coping mechanism right after tequila and she didn’t feel that flame in her rising when thinking of Lucho.   
  
_She wanted Juliana._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the long ass wait and thank you for the feedback! your guys' comments really make me motivated to write more! also i didn't realize how invest i was going to be writing this fic, so it might be a four part fic instead of three because ANGST. thank you for waiting again, hopefully you enjoyed this part!! please leave feedback! :)


	3. as fast as love comes, love goes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> juliana and valentina's dynamic continues to grow and valentina learns that juliana isn't as perfect as she first perceived the girl to be

During the car ride, she couldn’t help but to chew down her bottom lip as an attempt to try and maintain the flame burning inside of her. 

_Juliana._

The barista was all she could think about in her intoxicated mind. _I’m getting this over with._ That’s all she wants to do to not only prove it to Lucho that she doesn’t have any sort of emotional attachments to Juliana, but also to _herself_. This was none other than a bet- _a game_ , matter of fact. 

If she gets lucky tonight, she knows this will be the end of her game and she could go back to her black and white life with Lucho. 

She tucks in her lips as a sobering thought came to her mind, _what if I don’t want to go back to that life?_ She thinks to herself for a moment but she shakes that thought out of her head. Whether she liked it or not, Lucho was who she’s known to be with. _No one and nothing else._

The car stops and she realizes that she’s at her destination. The coffee shop.

“Call me whenever you need a lift, Ms. Valentina. I won’t be far,” Alirio says, unlocking the passenger doors. He’ll be in the parking lot and she knows that. Alirio was Valentina’s main driver, he knew he shouldn’t stray away far.

Before stepping out of the car, she sees Juliana through the glass doors wiping down tables. Juliana had her regular barista outfit on, this time with a dark red bandana tied around her head, complimenting the messy bun she had on. 

All Valentina was imagining was ripping every piece of Juliana’s clothes off.

“Gracias, Alirio.” She says before opening the car door. If the alcohol wasn’t already strong in her system already, she takes the metal flask from her purse and takes a long swig before walking to the doors of the shop

She was immune to the cold wind meeting her shoulders and sneaking into her leather jacket that she had on. As she approaches closer to the door, she grins at Juliana who looked up to see her.

Everything was so blurry and sounds became so distant and mumbled to her. The alcohol in her made her selective and all she sees is Juliana’s lips curving into a smile as she walks up to the girl

“Hola,“ Juliana attempts to greet her with a wave.

Valentina replies quick with a hushed, “ _Hola..”_ And the next thing that happens is her pressing her lips against Juliana’s lips. 

Taken by surprise, Juliana almost stumbles back but she kisses back. Valentina presses her lips against Juliana’s with her hands gripped on her hips. Juliana was melted into Valentina’s charge that she takes it within herself to sit on top of the table she was just wiping. 

The flame inside of her grew even stronger along with the influence of the tequila. 

“Val-“ Juliana tries to gain Valentina’s attention between kisses.

“Hi,” Valentina ignores Juliana and steps closer to the girl, where her right leg was between Juliana’s dangling legs.

Juliana has her eyebrows furrowed at Valentina with a smile. Valentina takes her hand and slides it passed Juliana’s neck and to the back of her head. She glances down to Juliana’s lips and eyes before making any move. 

Juliana’s waiting eyes stared back at her, paused until Valentina’s next move. The way she’s influencing how Juliana acted towards her couldn’t help but make her feel cocky in the inside. 

She was influencing parts of Juliana, she wonders if the girl even notices. The concern, excitement, and the _desire_ was for Valentina to have and she must admit that this part was reciprocated. She found concern and excitement when being with Juliana and this newfound desire was different. 

Still in her mind, there was only one way to find out how she really felt about the girl. With that, Valentina licks her lips before pressing her lips against Juliana’s neck. 

She presses her lips against Juliana’s neck, trying to find the right comfortable spot. Once she hears Juliana let a soft sigh out near her ear, she sucks the skin right on Juliana’s pressure point.

“Val,” Juliana almost groans, “We shouldn’t do this here..” The girl says but doesn’t try to fight it. Valentina knows what she’s doing is completely getting to Juliana and she smiles as she leaves these kisses in her neck. 

“It’ll be fun,” Valentina says with a low and reassuring voice, with her hand beginning to unbutton Juliana’s white polo.

“Wait,” Juliana said, lightly pushing Valentina away. 

“Mhm?” Valentina has this puppy dog look in her eye that was also filled with nothing but desire. She thought she wanted nothing more than to feel Juliana’s body pressed against hers, but the way Juliana was looking at her in this moment made her have more than a one track mind. 

“You know, I taste and smell the tequila all over your lips,” Juliana points out with a serious tone in her voice, along with her thumb caressing Valentina’s bottom lip. 

“Okay?” Valentina chuckles and leans in to taste Juliana’s lips once more.

Juliana moves her head back at Valentina’s attempt to kiss her again. “ _Valentina,”_ Her names sounds differently when Juliana says it and it actually compels her to calm down. 

She takes a step back, looking left and right and the room was absolutely spinning. “What happened? Did your dad’s anniversary not go well?” Juliana has her hands rubbing her shoulder and moving her hair back. 

_“Well, you need to get over it!”_

_“I don’t want to be around you right now.”_

The words exchanged with Lucho begins to ring in her mind again and she feels anger rising back up in her but she shakes it off

This was a side she didn’t want to introduce Juliana to, the _real_ side.

She takes a deep breath in, knowing she owes Juliana some type of explanation for her actions. “It’s always hard getting through a night like this,” She manages to say. 

Juliana hops down from the table and looks slightly up at Valentina since she was taller. 

The embarrassing feeling of Juliana rejecting her while she was drunk rose up in her quicker than the millions of shots of tequila she took tonight. 

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking about my actions at all,” She apologizes and just out of impulse, just to wash this feeling away, she reaches into her pulse and grabs the metal flask. She was in the middle of untwisting the cap off, ready to continue drowning herself in her sorrow, when Juliana takes the flask away and sets it down the table

“You don’t need to apologize to me, okay? And you definitely don’t need to drink anymore of that,” Juliana is the first and only person to not influence her drinking during this whole entire night. The whole anniversary was just filled with Lucho and her family drinking together and reminiscing the good times with her father. 

If it were anybody else that stopped her from drinking, she knows she would have definitely protested and retaliate until she gets her way, but somehow Juliana suppressed that feeling. Juliana is probably the only person she knows that doesn’t using drinking as a outlet to escape any problems that occur in life.

“Ven aca,” _Come here._ The girl says with a tone filled of soft tenderness, followed with her wrapping her arms around Valentina’s neck. Valentina didn’t expect this at all but maybe she could have imagined it coming, considering how good a person Juliana is.

She lifts up her arms and hugs Juliana back. There was absolutely no space between the two girls and Juliana was hugging her tight enough to make her feel vulnerable. Valentina shuts her eyes, nuzzling her face in Juliana’s neck and inhales the scent of the girl’s hair. It smelled like mixture of vanilla and coffee, somehow it was just the perfection combination she felt accustomed to.

It felt as if it was out of nowhere that Valentina had forgotten her real reasons why she came rushing to see Juliana tonight and then it came back to her. A sudden rush of her sober mind came crashing in and she was now thinking about how completely idiotic her actions were. 

Juliana wasn’t the type to just have sex in her work space or maybe even to have sex right away and Valentina felt guilty for not considering any of that. She felt almost as if she was disrespecting the girl.

Juliana twirls strands of Valentina’s hair with her fingertips. “I’m here,” Her words sounded so reassuring and real, it scared Valentina.

“I’m going to get you some coffee, okay? Just to sober up a little.” The barista suggest as she slowly parts her body away from Valentina’s, staring at her ocean eyes. 

Valentina nods and then takes a seat. She shuts her eyes as she massages the sides of her head, feeling the need to just sleep and forget this night ever happened. Juliana walks off to the counter and pours the hot drink in a mug before walking back to Valentina.

“There you go,” Juliana says softly, placing the mug near her.

She looks at the mug and then glances up at Juliana. “Honestly,” She begins to say with her chin resting on her knuckle, “I just want some sleep.” A weak chuckle comes out and Juliana responds with a nod. 

The girl understood where Valentina was coming from and Val knew it. It marks two years since her dad passed away and drinking was a heavy mixture to it, that’s what Juliana sees and it was enough for the girl to control herself and not take advantage of Valentina’s vulnerability. 

“You should,” Juliana says and Valentina didn’t expect any other words to come out her mouth.

“Come and stay with me, please?”

“To your house?” The girl raises an eyebrow.

“Just until I fall asleep.” She persists.

Maybe it wasn’t right to ask Juliana for much because she just tried to nail her on top of a table where a customer would be enjoying their morning coffee and paper at, but she was still drunk and didn’t care. That’s one of the reasons why she enjoys drinking so much, because she feels like there’s no limit to her actions or the things she says.

“Okay,” Juliana agrees, “ _Only_ until you’re asleep.” The girl repeats, just to make it crystal clear that that was all they were going to be doing.

Valentina smiles and bites her bottom lip at Juliana. “ _Unless_ you want to do more than..” She begins to flirt and reaches for Juliana’s hip, attempting to pull the girl closer to her.

“Val, you’re still drunk. No,” Juliana says between laughter as she takes a step back, letting Valentina’s hand slide away from her body.

Valentina accepts this rejection and defeat from tonight. She couldn’t help but to criticize herself about how her mood swings lead her to make her decisions. 

“Come on, then. Alirio’s in the parking lot,” Valentina nudges her towards the glass doors. 

 

* * *

 

The house was very dead from when Valentina last seen it. All the guests had completely left and Guille and Eva are most likely in their own rooms or spending the night with their significant others.

Once the girls get up to Valentina’s room, Valentina sits in front of her mirror trying to undo the back zipper of the top she had on. She grunts and lets out small whimpers of frustration as she fails to get the zipper down. The spinning feeling was still in her mind and she knew complete soberness would just meet her in the morning. Her arms become sore as a result of the failed attempt to get the zipper down and she hears Juliana snicker in the background. 

She turns her head at the girl and says, “Are you enjoying watching me struggle, instead of helping me?” 

Juliana giggles to herself as she takes a couple steps to Valentina. “Be careful of ripping it,” Valentina says softly, as she looks back at Juliana through the mirror. 

Juliana nods and uses her fingertips to brush Valentina’s hair over and passed her shoulders. The lingering touch brings Valentina to shut her eyes. She feels Juliana making careful attempts to bring the zipper down and the next thing she feels is the zipper sliding down and a light breeze meeting her bare back. She opens her eyes and sees Juliana’s pink face.

“I should let you change,” Juliana said as she takes a step back. Treating Valentina as if she was this sensitive piece of jewelry she wasn’t allowed to touch.

“That won’t be necessary,” Valentina walks to her sliding closet and grabs a random gray shirt. She takes the top off and puts the shirt on right after. She looks back at Juliana, who was staring at the ground with a red face. Then it came to her, she wasn’t wearing a bra underneath the top.

All she wanted right now was nothing other than to be comfortable in her bed so she takes off the black skirt she was wearing and replaced it with short shorts. She looks back up at Juliana who was staring at the walls of her room, as if she was actually intrigued by her wallpaper.

She slides underneath the covers and waits for Juliana to turn around. “Don’t worry, I’m not naked.” She says and Juliana turns around at her.

Still in her barista outfit, Juliana sits on the edge of the bed near Valentina. “Are you always like this?” Juliana smiles down at her. 

Valentina smiles back at Juliana. She’s only had two relationships in her life and they started off the same way, which was sex. She dated Will from Canada during one of her breaks with Lucho and the guy only realized he had strong feelings for her after they had sex. With Lucho, it was sex that made him crazy for her as well.

Looking back at Juliana, she thinks about how nice it feels to have someone genuinely interested in her without her having to gives parts of her body away as an exchange.

“Lay with me,” She insists.   
“I shouldn’t,” Juliana says, “I might fall asleep.” 

“So?” Valentina’s tone implies that she has no problem with that at all.

“I’m only here until _you_ fall asleep, remember?” Juliana said as she tucks Valentina’s blanket in to align her body more comfortably.

“ _Stay_ ,” Her words sounded like a murmur with its hushed volume. She didn’t know what version of her was talking. The drunk version or the sleepy one but she knew for a fact that she wanted Juliana next to her. 

Juliana looks down at her and Valentina pouts back at her. Juliana lays back on the bed, this was a sign that Valentina won. 

“Go to sleep,” Juliana says with a quiet voice. That was all Valentina needed to hear and so she nuzzles her head back in Juliana’s neck with her left arm wrapped across Juliana’s torso.

“Buenas noches, Val,” _Good night, Val._ Juliana says softly before turning the lamp light off.  


 

* * *

 

 

She wakes up to see what felt like a million of Lucho’s texts on her screen. 

_im sorry for earlier vale, ok? Is that what u want to hear?_

What kind of apology is that? She rolls her eyes and sets her phone to the side of her, the side Juliana was laying next to her last night.

It shouldn’t be to her surprise that she wakes up alone but it made her feel both sad yet happy. She’s never wanted to wake up next to someone but with Juliana, she craved for the girl to be the first thing she sees in the morning. And it’s the memory of how respectful Juliana was to her that balanced the sadness out. 

However it’s the clothes she was wearing that took her a moment to get a memory of but she calls Juliana right away.

“Buenas diaz, Valentina,” _Good morning._ Juliana greets.

She realizes Juliana is the last person that told her good night last night and now is the first person telling her good morning. She almost stays still at the thought, melted into Juliana’s voice.

“Vale?” Juliana repeats her name.

She’s getting lost in her thoughts thinking about Juliana a lot lately.

“Morning!” She says. “You left before I could even had the chance to thank you for last night.” Valentina scratches her head.

“I left once I heard those little snores you have,” Juliana chuckles.

“Stop,” Valentina groans and smiles. She looks down at herself and remembers why she called Juliana to begin with. “Hey, last night..” Her sentence sounds hesitant, “Did we..” She hopes Juliana finishes her sentence.

“No Val, we didn’t,” Juliana said. Well if they didn’t have sex, then how did Valentina manage to change- _Oh._ It comes to her that she basically stripped in front of Juliana to get in her sleep wear. “ _Pero,”_ Juliana adds, “You were definitely trying.” 

Flashbacks to Valentina trying to screw Juliana on top of the coffee table came back in her memory and she wants to erase herself from existence right now. “I’m sorry, I was drinking way too much and you were right in front of me-“ She talks so fast, trying to back herself up.

“Tranquilla,” _Relax._ Juliana cuts her off with a chuckle. “Just come by the shop and we can talk about it over coffee, sounds good?”

  
Valentina nods before saying, “ _Yes.”_

Her phone begins to ring the middle of this phone call with Juliana. She takes a look at her phone and sees Lucho’s name across the screen. “I’ll see you later, then. I have to get back to work,” Juliana’s voice is distant on the phone.

“Okay, bye.” She says before hanging up, and answering Lucho’s call.

“Hello?”

“Hey, I’m outside.” Lucho says and Valentina sits up from her position of laying down comfortably. 

“Why?” She rubs her temples, already feelings a headache surfacing.

“I just want to talk,” He said. She knows there is no way out of this if she just leaves Lucho waiting outside her house to speak to her. 

The first time she ever caught Lucho cheating on her was almost one year in their relationship and she was so hurt by it that she couldn’t face him. However, Lucho stayed outside her door for hours until she spoke to him. After the third time he cheated on her in their six year on/off relationship, she became numb to the pain and stayed with him. He’s all she’s ever known in her black and white world.

Their fights and his cheating end the way it always does, _sex._ However, it was something she wasn’t looking forward to do with him at the moment. This toxic cycle she has been going along for years with Lucho had it’s own pattern but somethings different in her that makes her want to change the way things were between them.

She hangs up the phone and makes her way downstairs. Mid-way walking to the front door, the doorbell goes off erratically. She rolls her eyes and opens the door to see Lucho was repeatedly tapping on the door bell. “Really?” 

He was holding yellow flowers for her, they were her favorite.

“Perdoname,” _Forgive me._ He’s holding the flowers out to her with a smile on his face. The smile she’s familiar to that meant he is expected to be forgiven right then and there.

But this time is different. It was more personal than all the other times he’s ever hurt her feelings. Shots were thrown about her father on the day of his damn _death_ anniversary and Lucho thinks he can get away with it this time? 

“I need space,” Valentina declares with her chin high. “ _Real_ space, this time.” She doesn’t think she’s ever sounded more serious with Lucho throughout the years she’s spent with him. 

Lucho senses it, so he drops his arm and holds the roses to his side.

“You don’t mean that-“

Her eyes narrows at him, looking at him straight in the eyes. “I do,” Her words cut him and it stings inside of herself little bit, she must admit. Lucho was her first everything and for the first time she doesn’t want to be around him at all. At least for now, just until she clears her mind away from him.

He sighs and instead of using his typical toxic masculinity to force Valentina to stay and forgive him, he just simply nods. 

“You’ll be back,” He covers his sadness with his cockiness. His tone filled with no surprise, it’s almost like he was expecting Valentina to come running back to him at some point. How could you blame him? Valentina’s ran back to him many of times in the past.

“Go home, Lucho.” Valentina asserts with her arms crossed over her stomach. 

He takes a couple steps back, testing if Valentina would stop him but she doesn’t. He walks towards his car and opens the car door, throwing the flowers in the passenger seat before taking a seat in the drivers side. With anger in his mind, he speeds away.

Valentina stands there for a moment, processing what just happened. There’s not an ounce in her that regrets her decision at all and it almost worries her, but it’s not what completely scares her. 

The bet comes back into her mind and she wonders if what she is doing is still worth it.

 

* * *

 

She walks into the coffee shop and sees Sergio talking to Juliana, and he’s actually making her laugh as she was serving coffee and sandwiches to customers. Knowing that Sergio wants nothing but to sleep with Juliana, it bothered her seeing him here. She purses her lips and furrows her eyebrow at him when he meets eyes with her. Juliana also notices her arrival and waves at her. 

It was very hypocritical for Valentina to feel this way, she knows that. She doesn’t even know why she feels so bothered by Sergio hitting on Juliana. It’s not like she had real feelings for the barista _at all._ She has to remind herself that in her head.

“Hola Vale,” Sergio walks up to her and greets her with a hug. 

“What are you doing here?” Valentina asks quietly.

“This is the best place to get coffee, remember? Also I wanted to say hi to my future _girlfriend_ ,” He jokes and Valentina rolls her eyes with a chuckle. _Girlfriend._ The thought of Sergio even succeeding that far with Juliana makes her want to laugh hysterically.

“How is that going? Did you..” Sergio puts up two fingers, gesturing a peace sign, and holds it close to his mouth and sticks out his tongue. 

Valentina’s face turns pink quick and she slaps his hand away in case Juliana were to see. 

“No, I haven’t yet,” Her voice with a hushed tone. She sees Juliana walking towards them and she stands up straight, clearing her throat trying to make it not so obvious they were just talking about the girl.

“I’m going on lunch soon,” Juliana hands her an ice coffee before walking back to the counter.

“Free coffee?” Sergio’s eyes widen, “You already had sex with her heart, didn’t you?” He laughs and Valentina smacks his arm.

“Goodbye, Sergio,” She says before walking towards the table she claims as hers. He leaves the shop and it wasn’t long until Juliana walks towards her with her apron only tied on her body half way.

“Hey,” She greets, still feeling embarrassed of her actions from last night. 

“How are you feeling?” Juliana’s voice filled with concern. Her softness helped wash away the tension Valentina was feeling in her chest.

She studied Juliana’s body language. The way the girl leaned over the table slightly, just to listen attentively, and the way she kept a steady gaze with her.

“Better,” Valentina breathes out.

Juliana keeps her lips closed but curves it into a small smile, just barely lifting her cheekbones high.

“I think we should talk about last night,” Juliana brings it up, her voice implying that there was something on her mind she wanted to say about it.

“I- I feel so dumb,“ Valentina stumbles on her words again. The mixture of the bet and these weird new feelings was getting in her head.

“Don’t do that,” Juliana pouts at the girl, reaching out for her hands to comfort Valentina. “I just think we should _slow_ down,” The barista says with her eyes low.

Valentina raises her eyebrow in question at the girl.

Juliana begins to tell Valentina more about herself. She had just recently moved here from San Antonio with her mom and Panchito, but before Panchito came into their lives, they would constantly be moving because of the troubles her actual father would drive the family into. 

“This might sound dumb, but being with you lately has probably been the most consistent relationship I’ve ever had with someone-“ Juliana stops herself with her face becoming red, “Not that we’re in a _relationship_ or anything like that,” She stammers and Valentina thinks it’s cute.

Stable relationships were something new to Juliana and she wasn’t the type to settle for anything temporary. Valentina was beginning to see the morals Juliana owned and it was something no one she knew in this city had.

“I know it’s pathetic,” Juliana lets out a weak chuckle.

“It’s not,” Valentina reassures her quick. “We’re still getting to know each other, I had no right.” As she puts the blame onto herself, she thinks back to the bet.

  
With this new information she’s learning about Juliana, Valentina almost wants nothing to do with the bet. Sex meant something to Juliana and the girl didn’t have to say it aloud for Valentina to see that.

“That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t want to ever _not_..” _..want to have sex with me?_ Valentina finishes what Juliana carefully says in her mind. It was almost as if the girl was shy to say so. “It’s just that we’re still becoming friends, can we just take it one step at a time?” Juliana asks. _One step at a time._ Valentina processes in her head.

“Okay,” She nods. _Friends._ It had a nice ring to it. Her favorite part was that it felt real and true, and it took her back to the beginning with Juliana before the bet even got in her head. “Can I ask you something?” Valentina asks, with the lingering thought of Sergio making Juliana laugh.

“Yeah?”

“Was Sergio hitting on you?” She almost hesitates to ask, because was it her place to? Juliana can talk to whoever she wants.

“Yes, but he was very funny about getting _rejected_.” Juliana chuckles. Valentina notices her dimples softly popping out when she laughs. _Why am I just now noticing that?_ She asks herself.

Valentina begins telling Juliana stories about growing up with Sergio and seeing how he uses humor in the most embarrassing times. Like the time when they were in junior high and Sergio fell into a puddle but instead of going home, he let himself stay like that and tried to hug all the girls. 

The conversation shifted from stories about Sergio to her own embarrassing moments as a child. Juliana listened, laugh, and tried to relate by explaining her experiences as well. Thirty minutes went by so fast that the two didn’t notice until Miss Perlita had to walk by and tell Juliana to clock back in for work.  


 

* * *

 

She spent the rest of her day at the university, just getting through her classes and she does see Lucho but it was just a glance passed each other. She didn’t try to stop and talk to him like he hoped to, instead she kept her head high and walked straight to her next class.

When she gets home, she sees Eva and Guille opening presents that were left for them from their visiting family members. Lucia stacked up all the bottles of wine and mezcal in the wine cabinets. They all were pouring drinks together and even had a glass ready for Valentina. All she thought about was last night and how Juliana took care of her while she was drunk. 

“No, I’m okay,” She declines the drink from Eva. Guille and Lucia raise their eyebrows at her as a result.

“Are you sick?” Eva has the back of her hand pressed against Valentina’s forehead.

“ _Pregnant_?” Lucia has her hand to her chest, as if that could be the only reason why Valentina is passing up a drink.

“No!” Valentina shakes her head and laughs. She shrugs, “I don’t feel like drinking, that’s all. I’ll get a glass of water though.” She says before walking over to the cupboard and grabbing a glass.

Guille chuckles, “My little sister is meeting sobriety!” 

They all laugh as Valentina fills her cup with water.

 

* * *

 

It was hard to sleep at night when her mind kept replaying the look on Juliana’s face when she kissed her. _Ay, Valentina.._ She rubs her eyes, trying to get rid of the girl from her head.

In addition, when she thinks she’s successful to falling asleep, she wakes up to her phone ringing and sees Lucho’s name across the screen. She groans and declines his call and has to repeat this action in the next half hour.

She considers taking a shot of tequila to help her go to sleep but she rejects that offer she made to herself. For the first time since her dad passed away, she doesn’t attempt to drink her nights away when she has trouble sleeping. 

She closes her eyes again, trying to fall asleep again but her mind continues to take her down memory lane. 

The waiting gaze Juliana gave her with lips parted, ready for Valentina to kiss her again. It was the submission Juliana presented her that had her feeling all types of things she couldn’t place her finger on.

To her right, she feels her phone vibrating underneath her pillow. The first person on her mind was Lucho, and how he’s still attempting to calling her. _The idiot is probably drunk._ Immediately, she rolls her eyes and picks up the phone.

“ _What_?!” Her voice was harsh.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” It was Juliana and she didn’t sound okay at all.

“No _wait_ ,” Valentina retreats right away. “I thought someone else was calling,” Her voice softens as she apologizes to the girl that’s been stuck in her head.

“I didn’t know who else to call,” She hears Juliana’s voice breaking on the phone.

“What happened?” She sits up, feeling like her chest was about to explode.

Juliana replies with her nose sniffling through the line. The girl was crying.

“ _Juls,_ talk to me,” All Valentina wants to do is steal the car and drive straight to Juliana and just hold her.

“My mom,” Juliana manages to say though tears, “The narcos shot my mom and left her on the street to die. Some people that saw what happened called an ambulance and she’s, she’s hurting.”

Valentina’s eyes widen, and her hand covers her mouth. She’s always known about the narcos and the gang wars in her country but being in the privileged place she’s grown up in, it was all just stories and news to her. 

But this wasn’t just a story or something she’s hearing on the news, it had to do with Juliana’s life.

“I’m at the hospital right now, she lost a lot of blood.” Juliana’s voice was breaking again and Valentina was never the type to hate sounds but she hated hearing the hurt in Juliana’s strained words.

“Send me your location, I’ll be on my way.” Valentina said, getting up from her bed to put on a jacket and boots. 

“It’s late, you don’t need to-“

“ _Juliana.”_ Valentina says her name like it was a warning. “I’m coming, okay?” She wasn’t going to take no for an answer. She keeps her phone to her ear and rushed downstairs, to grab the keys of Alirio’s car and then walks out the door.

“I’m on the first floor,” Juliana’s low voice almost makes Valentina feel bad for being forceful but then she remembers how much she needed a friend when her dad passed away. She wanted to be there for Juliana. 

 

* * *

 

She gets into the drivers side of the car and puts her seatbelt on. Driving wasn’t a problem for her, at least that’s what she convinces herself. She’s driven cars enough in the past to know the basics and that was enough for her to continue her impulsive actions. Nothing else was on her mind but seeing Juliana.

Once she gets to her destination, following the directions Juliana sent her, she parks the car and runs into the hospital. 

She goes straight to the receptionist and asked, “Valdes? The woman who got shot?” 

The receptionist just points to down the hall and Valentina speed walks down there and turns corners. She looks to her right and sees no one. Her head turns the opposite direction and she sees Juliana sitting down in the waiting area with her face in her palms.

“Juls!” She calls Juliana’s attention as she jogs to the girl. Juliana stands up as Valentina wraps her arms around her, pulling the girl in a hug. She inhales the smell of Juliana’s hair, it’s becoming her favorite thing.

Juliana digs her face in Valentina’s shoulder, crying. 

“I’m here,” Valentina reassures her, tightening her arms around Juliana.

“Thank you,” Juliana shaky voice breaks Valentina’s heart. How could someone so optimistic and perfect like Juliana deserve this kind of pain? She wonders to herself that.

They sit down together, Valentina waiting patiently for Juliana to explain to her what was going on, but Juliana doesn’t say anything but leans her head down on Val’s shoulder. She understood Juliana’s being closed off, she wasn’t expecting the girl to immediately tell her right away what was going on since her mom was just in the other room being operated.

“Her condition is really bad, I think that’s what the nurses are saying,” Juliana isn’t crying anymore, it’s almost like she’s ran out of tears and her voice sounded heavier.

“I’m sorry,” Valentina doesn’t know what else to say. 

“It’s not your fault,” Juliana shakes her head and bites down her lip. “You really didn’t have to come,” She brings up, her tone implying that Valentina didn’t have to go out her way for her.

“Juliana, it doesn’t matter what time of the day it is,” Valentina makes sure to keep a steady gaze with the barista, just to make herself clear. “If you need me, I’m here.” She finishes, and she absolutely means it. 

The staring back at her simply nods her head at Valentina. “Gracias,” Her raspy voice followed with her hand holding onto Valentina’s. 

A man walks up to Juliana, with eyes just as puffed just as Juliana’s. “Coffee?” He says, extending his arm out to Juliana, with a white styrofoam cup in his hand.

“Yes, please,” Juliana accepts the drink and looks back at Valentina. “Val, this is Panchito. Panchito, Valentina.” She introduces the two and they shake hands.  Panchito insists on grabbing Valentina a cup of coffee but she kindly declines. The man must be losing his mind knowing the woman he loves is in critical condition. He ends up sitting on the other chair, with his hands resting against his head.

“Alirio was up this late?” Juliana asks, looking at the time on the wall clock. _2:10AM_

Valentina thinks back to how _she_ was up late and the reason for that is the girl staring back at her. 

“I kind of stole the car,” Valentina said with a small smile, realizing how she could have probably just waken up Alirio to drive her here.

Juliana’s lips part into a chuckle, gently smiling at Valentina. Valentina doesn’t think she’s ever seen anyone so beautiful until right now. Despite the circumstances, it felt really good to see Juliana still managing to smile back at her. 

“You must really like me,” Juliana teases and Valentina rolls her eyes in a playful way.

“Stop,” Valentina chuckles softly, glancing down at Juliana’s lips. Is it bad for her to feel her stomach filled with butterflies and her chest glowing right now? Then she thinks about the situation they are and yeah, it is probably not the right time to have the urge to kiss Juliana right now.

Juliana begins to tell Valentina more about her mother and how close they are. Juliana still avoided telling Valentina what led up to her mom getting shot, and she made sure to not ask about it. She preferred Juliana telling her when she was comfortable.

Somewhere along the night when Juliana was explaining her ups and downs with her mom, the girls fell asleep together. Valentina’s head was just rested on Juliana’s shoulder and Juliana’s leaned her head over Val’s. 

 

* * *

 

She jumps slightly to the feeling of her phone vibrating in her pocket. It was Alirio. Right away, she was wondering what kind of lie she needed to form to explain why she took the car. Trying her best not to wake Juliana, she slides away from the girl’s shoulder slowly before walking down the hall.

“Hola, Alirio,” She answers the phone.

“Miss. Valentina, the car-“

“I have it,” Valentina runs her hand through her hair. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to wake you up but my friend needed me.” 

Alirio wasn’t mad at all, plus how could he? Her family pays him well. Instead, he wishes Valentina return the car as soon as she can so he go about his day doing his job. Valentina nods and apologizes through the phone before hanging up.

She looks at the small distance she created with Juliana when she walked off to answer the phone. She walks back to the girl and sits back down by her. Strands of Juliana’s hair were just all over the place, especially over her face. Valentina brushes her fingertips to carefully clear Juliana’s face.

Juliana wakes up and blinks a couple times to focus her vision. 

“Hey,” Valentina’s voice was gentle.

“You stayed,” Juliana points out and sounds surprised. 

“Yeah, I did.” She has never been a position where her friends needed her the most like this, and she was certain to be there just in case. Juliana hugs her and held her tight like she needed her.

Valentina hugs back and shuts her eyes, again inhaling Juliana’s hair. 

They pull away and Valentina mentions that she has to go and return the car but she promises to be back. Juliana insists that Valentina doesn’t have to take away time from Val’s day to be at the hospital.

“I’ll see you later, okay?” Valentina says, ignoring Juliana being so considerate of her time.

“Okay,” Juliana gives a weak smile. The girl was getting used to Valentina’s kindness.

 

* * *

 

Not even the radio could shut down the noise in her head when she drives home with thought of Juliana. She wondered if the girl ate breakfast or at least hydrated herself with water. All the basic human self-care questions arose in her head and she worried for Juliana. It almost bothered her how worried she was. _These aren’t feelings, it’s just me being concerned for my friend._ She repeats this to herself because it scared her.

In her black and white world, she was beginning to feel color surrounding her and it was because of Juliana. 

_Just a friend._

She shakes her head at the idea of Juliana being anything more than that because the thought of that kind of change in her life feared her. 

Somewhere in the back of her head, she was still expecting to go back to Lucho and continue their strained relationship. All what she was accustomed to knowing her whole life.

When she parks into the parking garage, she sees Alirio and hands the keys to him. “Can you take me somewhere?” She asks him with a cheeky smile.

Alirio wasn’t the type to get mad and since he’s known Valentina since she was a child, he has a soft spot for the girl.

“Where are we going?” He asks as he opens the passenger door for Valentina.

 

* * *

 

Valentina comes back to the hospital with a to-go paper bag with sandwiches she bought near the hospital and flowers. She sees Juliana and Panchito talking to a nurse about a “Lupita”, she assumes that’s the name of Juliana’s mother. The two look light compared to the last time she’s seen them. Panchito walks inside the room and Juliana was going to walk inside behind him but she sees Valentina. 

Her eyes lit up and it woke up those damn butterflies in Valentina’s stomach.

“They got the bullet out,” Juliana updates her with a grin. 

Valentina immediately wraps her arms around Juliana, “Thank god!”

They pull away and Juliana looks at the gifts Valentina got her. “I didn’t think you had anything in your stomach,” She says before handing the paper bag to Juliana. 

Juliana knows better than to decline Valentina’s kind hearted actions. “Gracias,” She takes the food and looks at the flowers, and glances back at Valentina. 

Valentina blushes. “It’s for your mom.” She swiftly says.

Juliana smiles at her and walks towards the room. “Come on,” She says and Valentina follows.

They walk in the room and Juliana’s mom was sleeping with an oxygen mask across her face.

“Is she okay?” Valentina asks gently.

“Lupe is in a coma,” Panchito answers as he pulls a chair near the bed that Juliana’s mom lied in.

“The doctors said she can wake up at any moment, but there’s not a good guess at when that will be,” Juliana sighs. “It’s almost like a compromise. She gets shot in the street and instead of death, she gets a coma.” The girl’s voice was shaking.

Panchito balls his fists, “El Chino Valdes is dead but his sins follow everyone else.”

“Calma,” Juliana says softly.

_El Chino Valdes._ Valentina puts two and two that this man that was mentioned is Juliana’s father. Still hesitant to ask about it, she chooses not too. 

Juliana walks over to her mom and holds her unresponsive hand. “Ma..” Juliana looks as if she was going to cry again.

Valentina watches Juliana break again and she couldn’t handle it, so she walks over to the girl and comfortably rubs circles on her back. 

“She’ll wake up,” Valentina tries to say, wanting to make Juliana feel better. 

Juliana turns around and allows Valentina to hold her once more.

 

* * *

 

Valentina spends just amount of time being with Juliana as she does thinking about the girl. She goes out her way and researches about gunshot wounds and how it affects the body along with learning more information about comas. She knew she didn’t have to do any of this but wanted to learn and be there for Juliana in every way possible.

There’s time when Lucho tries to call and text her to hang out or just to simply talk, but she finds herself too busy to even answer or reply to him at all.

In between her classes, she would usually spend her time in the coffee shop catching up on homework but without Juliana being in the shop because she’s with her mom. So, she makes surprise visits to see Juliana at the hospital with the same things in her hands, lunch and flowers.

This becomes a cycle in the next couple days, and those days turned into _weeks_ and Lupita was still in a coma. Lucho would still try to talk to Valentina and would even send her flowers but she ignored it. The whole time, Juliana and Valentina learned more about each other. With all the time she’s been spending with Juliana, Valentina finds herself drinking a _lot_ less. She’s sure the last time she got drunk was her father’s death anniversary. 

Valentina started to see Juliana in a different light than what she first perceived of the girl. When she first met Juliana, she saw this optimist _perfect_ girl but seeing Juliana broken down in front of her changed that and it didn’t make her see any less of the girl.

There are times where Juliana wasn’t dealing with the hurt of seeing her mom unconscious in a coma.

Alcohol was still something Juliana didn’t attract herself to but sometimes she shuts herself off from Panchito and Valentina. Valentina didn’t force Juliana to come around, she just waited because that’s what friends do. She gave Juliana her space and texted her whenever she wanted to check up on her and when the space felt like enough for Juliana, the girl would tell Valentina that she needs her and Valentina always shows up.

It wasn’t just Juliana’s strength that was Valentina’s favorite thing she’s learned, but also the flaws. It reminded Val that the girl was not just some perfect idea in her head, but Juliana was real. 

If you want Valentina to be completely honest, she has forgotten all about the bet. This was her raw self going out her way to be a real friend to Juliana without thinking about getting a Mustang out of it.

“You don’t always have to bring me food, you know?” Juliana chuckles and unwraps the foil of the burrito Valentina brought for her.

“Did you eat today?” Valentina fires back, already knowing the answer to her own question.

Juliana takes a bite into the burrito and groans. “No.” She replies as she takes another bite into the burrito. Valentina chuckles at her and glances over at Lupe’s sleeping body.

“How are you holding up?” She asks.

“It’s hard,” Juliana starts, “And the hospital bill is crazy-“   
“I’ll help you!” Valentina is quick to offer and Juliana shakes her head.

“I can’t ask you to do that, Val. That’s too much,” Juliana is quick to reject and Valentina knows she has to take no for answer on this one.

“Panchito’s sister has family in San Antonio, they have a temporary job out there to do some painting and it pays well,” Juliana mentions. “He won’t be able to go because his US visa expired, and mine is fine..” Her voice fades in her sentence, implying that she would have to make that move. 

“Are you going?” She feels her chest tighten at the idea of Juliana leaving.

“I might,” Juliana gulps. “It won’t be until next month and after that I’ll be gone for two months-“

“ _Two_ months?” Valentina’s eyes widen in disbelief. 

“Yeah,” Juliana nods. “It’ll be enough money to pay off this bill.”

“How about I take care of it and you guys just pay back over time?” Valentina suggests the first thing that comes to mind, just anything to make Juliana stay. 

Juliana shakes her head. This was the independent part of Juliana that Valentina is now learning about. 

“All my life, I was never given anything. When times were tough, we had to find a way. This is the only way, Val,” Juliana explains.

Valentina looks down, finding better interest looking at her boots than staring back at Juliana.

“ _Mirame..” Look at me.._ Juliana lifts up Valentina’s face and meets eyes with her.

“You’re becoming my best friend,” Valentina says in a low and honest voice. She knows two months isn’t long but after being around Juliana almost everyday since they’ve met, two months felt terrible to imagine. 

She’s never bonded with anybody so strong in her life. Juliana doesn’t compare to Sergio, Nayeli, or even Lucho.

“I’m here now,” Juliana tucks in the strand that was falling in front of Valentina’s face. 

The two were close, Juliana shifts her hand and slides it to the back of Valentina’s neck. She leans in closer Valentina, attempting to initiate the kiss. Her eyes close and she holds her breath. 

Their lips were inches apart before the sound of the doors opening interrupted and startled the two, breaking how close the distance was between them.

“Hola, Panchito,” Juliana greets and clears her throat. 

“Hola,” Valentina’s face feels flushed, and she sends a wave to the man.

“How is she?” Panchito asks, referring to Lupe.

“Still the same,” Juliana sighs and Valentina reaches out for her hand, caressing it softly. Juliana looks down at the gesture and up at Valentina. She smiles softly at Juliana, wishing she keep her around her forever.

 

* * *

 

At night, she fought her sleep. She’s been spending early mornings making visits to Juliana at the hospital before heading to her classes. Before she allowed herself to rest, she picks up her phone and scrolls down her contact list. She hovers her thumb over Lucho’s name, wondering if this was the moment to give in and apologize to him for being upset for so long. However, it was in her heart’s instinct that knew it that would be the wrong thing to do. 

She scrolls again and stares at Juliana’s name. Something felt so right about Juliana, it made her feel almost uneasy.

Instead of calling the girl, she decides to turn her phone off and tuck it underneath her pillow.

It was like the barista was this broken loop playing over and over in her head. As she closes her heavy eyes, she’s glad she was so exhausted because sleep nowadays was her only outlet that kept her from constantly thinking about Juliana.

 

* * *

 

On Saturday night, she decides that Juliana needed a break from all the stress going on in the past few weeks. She noticed that Juliana hasn’t been in the coffee shop because of all the hospital visits and Valentina completely understood it. 

For a change since the Lupe was rushed in the hospital, Valentina wanted to take the girl somewhere to ease her stress. Of course she had to convince Juliana in the most emphatic way possible to get her out of the hospital and come with her for a “surprise”. 

“Juliana, go. I’ll be here and you know I will call you if anything happens,” And with Panchito’s words, Juliana gives in and follows Valentina to the car.

“Where are you kidnapping me?” Juliana jokes.

“You’ll have to wait and see,” She smiles cheekily as a response.

The whole car ride, Juliana had her head rested on the taller girl’s shoulder. It was comfortable and for some reason, it felt natural to Valentina.

The car stops and they get down to see this large hut themed spa place that had dim lights around it. “Massages,” Valentina says and looks at the girl.

Juliana widens her eyes and grins back at her. 

They walk inside and were greeted by the masseuses. That was the first thing the girls were to do, relax all the knots they had throughout their bodies. The two undressed in the two different stalls and once they finished, Valentina tried to fight down the _tension building up in her body_ just by looking at Juliana wearing nothing but a robe.

There’s silent pining in Valentina’s eyes, just completely admiring the beauty that stood in front of her.

“ _Val_ ,” Juliana says Valentina’s nickname as if it was a warning. “No me mires asi, por favor.” _Please don’t look at me like that._ She says as she blushes and tries to contain the shy smile on her face at the same time.

“Well, how do you want me to look at you?” Valentina’s shy answer follow with her hands hiding her face.

Juliana takes a step in and places her hands over Valentina’s, moving Val’s hands away from covering the sight of her blue eyes. 

“Thank you for this,” Juliana holding her _damn_ steady gaze is almost compelling to Valentina. It makes it almost impossible to _not_ have this tension between the two of them. Valentina is first to break the gaze by dropping her eyes down at Juliana’s lips. It’s been almost a _month_ since she’s felt Juliana’s lips against hers. She wants to feel those warm lips against her once again.

_This is just a friend hang out, that’s it,_ it’s almost like she’s yelling at herself. She’s been respecting this whole friendship ever since Juliana asked her to slow down.

With her lips tightly tucked in, she gulps and says, “Come on, they’re waiting.” It felt like it took everything in her to fight the urge to not kiss the girl and then walks passed her, and towards the room of the main masseuses.

They spent an hour getting their massage on, the whole hour just filled with conversations that focused on random topics like the crazy theories of human nature which included the mandala effect, butterfly effect, and the question of whether soulmates are real or not.

“I don’t know about _that,”_ Valentina almost reminds Juliana how negative she could be.

“You don’t think two people who were meant to be together will always find their way back to each other?” Juliana sounds intrigued by Valentina’s pessimism.

“And you _do?”_ She laughs. 

“You never been in love, huh?” Juliana observes.

Valentina pauses and considers Lucho. The thought about _having_ love for him instead of _being_ in love with him came back to her mind and this conversation echoed in her mind about the first night they have ever hung out.

_“What do you think love is?”_

_“I think love is like being pulled for air..”_

Valentina scratches her head. “No se,” _I don’t know,_ “Have you ever been?” Valentina asks.

Juliana takes a short pause for herself as well but she responds with her voice level sounding close to a whisper. Valentina couldn’t clearly understand the girl’s reply but she’s sure Juliana used their native language and said, “Creo que estoy ahora..” _I think I am right now._

Before she gets the chance to ask Juliana to repeat herself, just so she isn’t deluding herself from what she thinks she heard, their massage was announced to be over. Valentina decides to not throw herself into a pit of overthinking and suggests to go into the pool. 

“I don’t have a swimsuit-“ 

“I brought an extra one,” Valentina answers and Juliana chuckles.

She wanted to make sure Juliana had a perfect relaxing night to help ease everything around the girl because she meant it when she told Juliana she was her becoming her best friend. When they meet up at at the pool, it was just them two and no one else. 

All the other guests in this place were getting massages instead. Once Valentina sees Juliana walking towards her, she has to fight the demons in her mind that is bringing back the urge to press her body against Juliana because the girl looked _so_ good in the white swimsuit she brought for her.

Juliana admits that she doesn’t know how to swim and instead of laughing at her, Valentina offers to teach her the basic steps. The first step was floating and since being in the water made their bodies feel lighter, Valentina almost carries Juliana’s flat body hovering over the water. 

“Like this?” Juliana’s voice sounded shaky, but she extends her arms out to let her body balance with the water.

“Yes!” Valentina sounds excited watching Juliana float with the support of her arms. Juliana’s eyes were shut closed with a clam expression on her face. 

“You want to know something?” Juliana insists, opening her eyes at Valentina.

“Hmh?”

“I’ve never been in a hot tub before,” The girl says and Valentina raises her eyebrows emphatically. She almost pulls Juliana out of the pool and holds her hand during short walk to the hot tub.

“Val!” Juliana laughs.

They step in the hot tub, and they both let out a, “Ah.” Shoulders were deep inside the circular hot tub, and Juliana leans her head back for comfort. The girl shuts her eyes and smiles. Valentina thought it was incredible that Juliana was able to smile and laugh despite what was going on in life.

“You look..” She lets out her thoughts come straight out her mouth and stops herself but Juliana opens her eyes at her.

“Yeah?” Juliana waits for her to finish her sentence.

Juliana looks back at her, once again with that gaze in her eyes. It feels like the girl is searching for something deeper in Valentina’s eyes. “Muy guapa..” _Very pretty…_ Her voice almost whispers but it was loud enough for Juliana to hear. Valentina licks her lips and has her eyes glued to Juliana’s mouth. She shakes her head and tries to control herself. “I’m glad you’re enjoying this,” She inches back.

“Thank you, seriously. I know I could be too much sometimes,” Juliana takes her fingers and comb Valentina’s hair back.

“You’re never too much,” Valentina says empathically. She knows Juliana is going through it right now, the girl is valid to feel whatever she needs to.

“You’ve been nothing but a great friend to me,” Juliana inches closer, filling in the space Valentina was trying to create between them. 

Valentina drops her eyes down at the water before meeting Juliana’s gaze again. “Yeah,” She says unconfidently, “That’s what _friends_ are for right?” 

Juliana nods and wraps her arms around Valentina’s neck. Valentina hugs back and wonder how the hell Juliana can still smell so good even with the smell of chlorine. Juliana pulls away first, softly brushing her cheek past Valentina’s.

Their faces were so close, it was hard to resist the temptation to kiss the girl. Her lips tremble as she sees Juliana staring down at her lips. 

With pure hesitation, she inches her lips closer to Juliana. It was almost like she was another version of herself when she was with Juliana. 

Juliana is the one to shut her eyes first this time, inviting Valentina to initiate her lips to press against hers. But first, Valentina takes Juliana’s hands underwater and slowly guides the girl’s forearms to rest around her waist. With her nose nudging Juliana’s, she leans in closer and kisses Juliana.

There was no alcohol influenced in her and no bet crossing her mind. This was _all_ Valentina. 

Once their lips grow familiar to each other, Juliana deepens the kiss by pulling in Valentina’s neck. The grip Juliana had around Valentina’s neck aroused her and influenced Valentina sneaking her tongue inside the girl’s mouth. Juliana responded well and Valentina had Juliana’s back completely against the inner walls of this hot tub. 

Underneath the water, Valentina presses her thigh between Juliana’s legs, earning a soft moan escaping out of the girl’s mouth. It was almost like Valentina was the pro in this situation, because she controlled every cause and effect. She takes her left hand hand cups Juliana’s breast from the outside of the swimsuit, while at the same time she was exploring Juliana’s neck, wanting to kiss every part of the girl.

“Val,” Juliana groans her name and it only causes the fire in her to grow stronger. “Someone might walk in,” It absolutely sexually frustrated Valentina that Juliana was always looking at the logical aspects of things but the girl had a point.

Valentina reframes herself from continuing to devour Juliana’s neck. She looks around at how empty the the pool area and back at Juliana. “Do you want me to stop?” Valentina asks but with hunger in her voice.

Juliana bites down her lip. “We shouldn’t do this here,” That was her answer and to Valentina, it wasn’t a complete _no._

Valentina takes a deep breath. “Okay,” She nods, “Let’s get clean and meet up at the car?” She suggests. 

Juliana furrows an eyebrow in question but she decides to go with the flow anyways. 

They both took quick showers, dried themselves up, and wore the same clothes they walked in with in the beginning. Valentina had found Alirio’s coat and took the car keys, and as a treat she buys him a session with the masseuses. 

She was waiting by the car and was chewing down her lip, desperately wanting to see Juliana walk up to her.

The parking lot was dead because all the visitors were inside the spa, including Alirio. 

She hears footsteps and sees Juliana smiling at her. Valentina’s eyes lit up and she opens the door to the backseat for Juliana. Juliana laughs as she gets inside and the taller girl follows, closing the door behind her. 

There was no question to what they were doing in the car with Alirio gone, Juliana had already figured it out when Valentina immediately presses her lips against the girl without hesitation. Juliana kisses back and it was almost like they were completely back to where they left off in the hot tub. 

Their heated kiss lead to Valentina gripping onto Juliana’s hips. Juliana returns the favor from earlier and attaches her lips against Valentina’s neck. For the first time in any of her _physical_ acts, the lips against her neck sent her shivers down her spine. Juliana supported this action with one of her hands dripping on the opposite side of Valentina’s neck. Valentina’s hands move and find away to underneath Juliana’s shirt, leaving circular motions with her hands followed by her nails digging in Juliana’s back. 

Their intensity fought each other to where Valentina presses her lips against Juliana’s and the girl responds back deepening the action. It was like their tongues were in war against each other, and the two can’t help but smile and laugh in between kisses. 

Valentina slides her hand from Juliana’s back and lands it on the girl’s lower stomach. She’s never done anything like this with another girl, but she desired to explore further with Juliana. “A-are you okay with this?” Her voice hitched, she was nervous. “I know you wanted to slow down, I can stop whenever you want.”

Juliana’s waiting eyes met Valentina’s. In the weeks that followed since Juliana declared to slow down, this was almost a reward to Valentina. All the nights Valentina spent at the hospital just supporting Juliana and her family brought them closer together.

“I want _you_.” She breathes out. That was all Valentina needed to hear before she focused on the button of Juliana’s pants.

She reaches down slowly, just in case Juliana changes her mind. Her fingers unbuttons the jeans, following her the tip of her fingers sliding down the zipper. 

Her breathing becomes heavy and Juliana kisses her and suddenly she felt calmer. Just outside of the underwear Juliana wore, she hovers her middle and index fingers over. Carefully, she slides her fingers from Juliana’s lower stomach to underneath the lace of the panty. When she meets the inside of Juliana and as a result, Juliana parts her lips in the middle of their kiss. 

“Stop me whenever you want, okay?” Valentina softly says and Juliana nods. She begins to press her lips from pressure points of Juliana’s neck to her collarbone as she begins to send Juliana circular motions in her clit.

Juliana moans in her ear and Valentina adds more pressure, feeling the wetness of Juliana on her fingers. She creates a pattern of movements to pleasure the girl. Juliana grips on Valentina’s arms for support during this whole time Valentina being in her. 

Her patterns drove Juliana to moan all sorts of things that she never thought could arouse her. The sound of Juliana breathing out her name heavy in her ear, pleading for her to go faster and harder. She never wanted to pleasure someone else more than getting the favor returned to her.

She’s surprised at how long Juliana’s lasting, if you want her to be quite honest. Her past partners only lasted 2-3 minutes and it was embarrassing, but with Juliana she feel like they could go on for multiple long rounds.

As she appreciate the lip biting faces Juliana was making, she knew what would set Juliana off for sure. With her opposite hand, she tries to pull down Juliana’s pants completely and Juliana helps her. Luckily the car was so spacious otherwise, having Juliana down on her back would have been a more cramped up scenario. She pulls the pants completely off and takes her fingers out. 

Juliana looks up at her with a frown, “Wait, I didn’t-“

“Shh.” Valentina cuts her off before she leans down to Juliana’s center. Her hands grip Juliana’s hips as her open mouth meets Juliana’s clit. The contact of her tongue had Juliana gripping on Valentina’s hair. She worked her tongue and mouth in ways she never known before and it was enough for Juliana to meet climax. Juliana takes one of her hands to cover her own mouth to stop herself from moaning so loud. Valentina didn’t stop, she was quickly addicted to the taste of this girl. 

Juliana’s hips rise along with her orgasm. 

“S-stop,” Juliana stammers and Valentina lifts her head up. Juliana was breathing heavy and Valentina smiles cutely at her. “Come here,” Juliana chuckles, wanting to presses her lips against Valentina’s once more.

In the middle of the act of Valentina making her way to Juliana’s lips, they hear a voice. 

_Alirio’s voice._

“Miss Valentina?” He calls out. 

Their eyes widen at each other and Juliana rushes to put her pants back on. “Shit,” She nervously says, zipping up her jeans.

They take a quick look at each other to make sure they didn’t both look like a mess because of _all of that._

“We’re good,” Valentina says before reaching for the door. 

“Wait!” Juliana says and Valentina turns around right away.

“Yeah?”

Juliana pulls her in for a kiss and bites down the bottom of her lip at the end. Valentina smiles and remembers that only one of them got to feel climax tonight. “Don’t tease me right now or else we’ll be in this parking lot until the morning,” She softly pushes Juliana off her and the girl laughs.

Valentina gets out the car and sees Alirio. “Hey!” She calls out for him.

Alirio walks up to her with a smile on his face. “The massage was wonderful, gracias Miss Valentina. Are we ready to go?” He asks.

Valentina nods, “Yes.”

“Bueno,” He replies as he walks towards the vehicle. 

Before he opens the door for Valentina, he stops his tracks. “Also,” He starts, “Please stop stealing the car keys.” 

Valentina just smiles innocently at him and sits back next to Juliana. They exchange smiles and Juliana lays her head on Valentina’s shoulder once more.

 

* * *

 

They spent the car ride with their hands interlocked and Valentina couldn’t contain the happiness she was feeling. She didn’t even get the chance to have Juliana return the favor but she was completely okay with it. Alirio drops off Juliana at her home and the two wanted give a kiss to each other good night but not in front of the driver. She presses her lips against Juliana as a goodnight instead.

The first thing she sees when she walks in her house, she sees Guille at the dinner table. Being in such a good mood, she walks over to her brother and hugs him as a greeting. “Hola!” She grins.

Guille smiles at her and just looks at her, it was almost like he was analyzing her.

“What?” Valentina chuckles.

Guille takes a sip of his wine. “You’ve been happier lately,” He observes, “Your eyes looks lighter… Did Lucho finally learn how to be mature?” He jokes and Valentina shakes her head. Her big brother never really liked Lucho throughout the years she was with him.

“No, it’s something else,” She says with the thought of Juliana in her head.

“Well go on, say it,” Guille says, wanting to know what’s been on his sister’s mind.

She just laughs and tells him goodnight. When she gets to her room, she just sits in her bed still feeling fresh to what just happened. She plays with her hair and smiles just thinking about the girl.

_I can’t stop thinking about you.._

She smiles at the text Juliana sent her.

For the first time since her father died, she was able remember what it felt like to fall asleep happy.

 

* * *

 

The next day, in between her classes Sergio jogs up to her side and stops her from going inside of Alirio’s car. She was on her way to her normal routine of going to the cafe to kill the hour gap that she had until her next class. “Hey Vale,” Sergio greets.

“Que pasa?” _What’s up?_ She asks.

“It’s Lucho,” He says with a frustrated voice. “Listen, I don’t know what went on between you guys but he’s been drinking more lately and is acting out.”

“Acting out, like how?” Valentina is just imagining Lucho violently punching walls like he normally does when he’s upset.

“He goes spends a lot of times at bars and drinks, then picks a fight with the first person he sees,” Sergio sighs.

“What do you want me to do about that?” 

“Do what you always do?” He looks at her like she should know what he was implying. And the implication was to get back together with Lucho and go back to _normal._

“I can’t,” She says with a low voice. “But this bet was bothering him, I might as well just get through this before going back to him.” She knew that the bet meant nothing to her now, but she used it as an excuse to delay facing her real life.

If she wanted to be honest to Sergio, she would tell him that the bet was over and she won, but she refused to.

If anything, the whole idea of the bet flew over her head when she was with Juliana.

But she makes this suggestion because she still feels like she _has_ to go back to her real life at one point even if after last night, she was only looking forward to learning more about every inch of Juliana’s body and mind.

Sergio furrows his eyebrows at her.

“Que?” She asks him.

“Nada,” He replies and receives Valentina crossing her arms at him. “It seems like you’re just using this bet as an _excuse_ to just hang out with Juliana more than your boyfriend.” He didn’t sound wrong and Valentina wasn’t going to admit he was right at all.

“Forget about this whole dumb bet.” Valentina backs out.

“So you’re over it? And I can keep my Mustang?” Sergio smiles and Valentina rolls her eyes.

She chuckles and suddenly feels lighter at this conclusion. “I lose.” She shrugs her shoulders and walks passed Sergio, opening the passenger door of the vehicle awaiting her.

What happened last night was for her to cherish in her and Juliana’s minds, not in anyone else. She might of said she lost out loud, but she knew inside that this was no loss. Meeting Juliana alone was like winning lottery.

“What changed?” He asks her.

“Nothing,” She says, trying to come up with an excuse, “I’m just not attracted to her.” _Yeah fucking right, Vale._ She thinks to herself.

 

* * *

 

Valentina walks into the cafe and sees Juliana working for the first time since her mother’s been in the hospital. There’s this frown and sadness she sees in the barista’s face once she walks in the shop that it shatters her excitement seeing the girl.

Valentina catches up to Juliana, who was walking over to customers with a plate of food on one hand and a tray of coffee mugs in another. “Hey, you okay?” She asks, following the steps of Juliana’s movements. She knows Juliana’s busy working but she couldn’t resist no checking up on her.  


“I’m okay,” Juliana says bluntly, continuing to walk and serve customers in the coffee shop their orders.

“Juls, what’s wrong? Did something happen?” Valentina senses that Juliana wasn’t telling the truth.

Juliana clenches her jaw and purses her lips. It was as if she had something in her mind but refused to say. “I just can’t talk right now.” Juliana doesn’t even look at Valentina in the eyes and she continues to walk away from Val.

Valentina stops her tracks from following Juliana furthermore. She wondered if she did something wrong or if Juliana happened to _find out_ about the bet. 

She walks out the coffee shop with the feeling of Juliana watching her as she leave. She turns her head over she shoulder and was right about her instincts as she meets eyes with the girl from the window.

She takes her phone out and makes a phone call to Sergio immediately. 

“Hola, Val-“

“Did you tell Juliana about the bet?” Her voice was demanding because she wanted to hear nothing but an answer from him. 

“Uh, no?” He sounded confused.

She clenches her teeth. “Did _Lucho?_ ”

“I’ve been with Lucho almost everyday, he doesn’t care about the girl enough to speak to her.” Sergio chuckles.

She takes a breath of relief, feeling like she dodged a bullet. 

“Okay,” She calms down the tension in her voice.

“Ay Vale,” He begins to laugh. “You’re not _falling_ for her, are you?”

She shuts her eyes and shakes her head. “You sound ridiculous.” And with that, she hangs the phone up. 

What kind of wild question was that? Of course she _wasn’t_. 

But if Juliana didn’t find out about the bet, then what was bothering her? Valentina tries to think of every reason possible and if it tied back to her. If something were to happen to Lupe, she’s sure Juliana would have told her. It couldn’t be last night, could it? They were so happy.

She knows she shouldn’t bother Juliana while the girl was working so she sends her text messages instead, trying to find answers.

_What happened?_

_Text me back when you get the chance._

_I just want to know if you’re okay._

Juliana has pushed her away before when her mom’s coma was overwhelming but after last night it confused Valentina to why Juliana would push her away now.

 

* * *

 

She doesn’t a reply from Juliana all day and it kept her up. With the feeling of being ignored all day, she impulsively asks Alirio to take her to the hospital. She was going to see Juliana whether the girl liked it or not. Once she steps foot in the hospital, she goes straight to Lupe’s room. She opens the door and only sees Panchito. 

“Hola,” She greets him. He looks up at her, exposing a face that was just beaten up. “Oh my god, what happened?” Valentina’s worried eyes stared back at his.

“I ended up in the wrong neighborhood,” Panchito gives a weak chuckle. “The gang that did this to Lupe came after me,” He balls his fists. “It’s almost like anyone that is associated with the Valdes’ is getting the punishment for Chino’s sins.”

“Do you need anything? Medicine or ice?” Valentina offers as she sees black his eyes were.

“No, Valentina. Thank you though,” He says, “I’m surprised you’re here. Juliana is at home packing.”

_Packing?_

“Why is she packing?” Valentina furrows her eyebrows.

“She told you about San Antonio, no?” He asks, but that didn’t add up to Valentina.

“I thought she was leaving in a month,” She was already feeling hurt at the thought of Juliana being away.

“No,” He corrects her. “She decided to leave earlier after she saw what happened to me when she got home from the spa with you.”

She felt like she was going to suffocate and so she excuses herself and almost runs back in to the car.

“To Juliana’s,” She tells Alirio, with her hands fidgeting together. 

When they arrive to the girl’s house, Valentina almost stumbles rushing to get to the door. She slaps her hand against the door, “Juls!” She calls out, demanding the girl to open this door. 

She continues pounding the door with her hand until she sees Juliana opening the door. “You’re leaving early?” Valentina’s voice breaks.

“I..” Juliana steps outside, “I have to, Val.” 

“No you don’t,” Valentina protests. “Why are you deciding this?”

“Because Val!” Juliana meets Valentina’s tone, “The hospital bill is higher and I need to make extra money to move out the neighborhood we’re in. Panchito and my mom are in no place to do this so I have to because of those assholes,” Juliana reasons herself.

“I can get the police to help catch those guys-“

“There’s narcos _working_ for the police, I can’t trust anyone.  I have to do this or else I could be next or even worse..” Juliana stops herself and has teardrops falling from her eyes from looking back at Valentina. Juliana shakes her head and stares at the ground, “We can’t do _this_ anymore.” 

That made Valentina’s chest tighten. 

“You don’t mean that,” She scoffs, “After last night? Seriously?” Her eyes was beginning to flood and anger rose in her heart. “Were you even planning on telling me you were leaving early?!” Her voice raises and breaks at the same time.

“I can’t risk you!” Juliana meets Valentina’s tone, with her eyes piercing in Valentina’s. “Everyone I love around me is getting hurt,” Juliana’s calms her voice down and Valentina’s eyes drops down to the ground, she was trying to hold back the tears in her eyes. 

She’s never realized how much she cared for Juliana until this very moment, but he knows she can’t stop Juliana because the girl had every reason to do this. “I thought I was in a place to be with someone, but I’m just not ready.” Juliana’s voice softens and Valentina can tell she was hurting.

“I don’t want to lose you,” Valentina tucks in her lips.

“We’ll always be friends,” Juliana says and Valentina never thought she hated the label _Friends_ until this very moment.

Valentina thinks to herself that maybe this was _supposed_ to be like this. Ever since she met the girl, everything was beginning to change and maybe her life wasn’t ready for Juliana yet. 

“When do you leave?” She asks, trying to understand where Juliana stands.

“Tomorrow morning,” Juliana answers and Valentina bites her tongue down and resists the temptation to tell the girl to _stay._

Valentina swallows her the heaviness she’s feeling in her throat. She has so much to say but she stops herself. “Well,” She manages to say, “I guess I rather you be far away, but safe.” 

Juliana steps closer and pulls her in for a hug, Valentina hugs back without wanting to ever let go.

She offers to drop her off to the airport but Juliana declines and says that Panchito was already going to do so. “So is this the last time I’ll be seeing you?” Valentina asks.

“I’ll be back,” Juliana promises. _In about three months._

The night grew darker and Valentina couldn’t stand goodbyes, so she tells Juliana goodnight and turns her back, walking away from the girl. She felt Juliana watch her walk away and she hoped her footsteps left prints on the concrete ground so Juliana could follow her.

She begins to think again about how this was probably the way it was supposed to be and maybe Juliana wasn’t the one for her. Valentina should have known Juliana was just too good to be true. Besides, she could’t leave the life she was hiding away from Juliana, right? 

Lucho is still waiting around for her to come back to him anyways. It almost angers her that she let herself get in this position of these conflicting feelings, but Juliana made her decision and all Valentina wanted to do now is get rid of everything she was feeling for the girl.

_I didn’t fall in love her, it was never that deep. I don’t love her like that._ She repeats over in her head during this car ride home.

There was no more bet so her time getting to know Juliana was naturally up, she felt her only option now was to go back to her old life before Juliana ever walked into it.

But as she sits silently during the car ride home Juliana’s words ringing distantly in her mind, along with the image of her steady gaze and those warm brown eyes. She knows it’s wrong but if things were to be different- if she were braver, she knew deep down she was willing to leave everything behind for Juliana.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok but get this?? IT ONLY GETS MORE ANGSTY. thanks for making it this far in the reading!! your feedback is well appreciated and it continues to inspire me to write!


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